Skip to main content
PMC home page
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1986 Apr;83(8):2536–2540. doi: 10.1073/pnas.83.8.2536

Sequences upstream of the STE6 gene required for its expression and regulation by the mating type locus in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

K L Wilson, I Herskowitz
PMCID: PMC323333  PMID: 3517872

Abstract

The STE6 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is an a-specific gene; it is repressed in alpha cells by the alpha 2 product of the mating type locus. To study the role of sequences upstream of STE6 in its regulation and expression, we have determined the DNA sequence of the promoter region, identified the start sites for the STE6 transcript, and identified sequences governing its transcription. Deletions that remove DNA upstream of the STE6 gene were produced and assayed for effects on regulation and expression. The deletions defined two intervals upstream of the STE6 transcription initiation sites. One contains all or part of a negative element; the other contains all or part of a positive element. The negative element is required for repression of STE6 by alpha 2: deletions lacking this element express STE6 constitutively. Such deletions remove a 31-base-pair site, located 135 base pairs upstream of the first transcript start site, that is highly homologous to sites present in the upstream regions of four other genes repressed by alpha 2. These sites are presumably responsible for repression of the a-specific genes by alpha 2. The positive element (a putative upstream activation site) is required for expression of STE6. The deletions define the left boundary of the proposed upstream activation site. Sequence homologies between STE6 and other a-specific genes are found in this region and may mediate activation of this set of genes.

Full text

PDF
2540

Images in this article

2538Image
on p.2538

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Beggs J. D. Transformation of yeast by a replicating hybrid plasmid. Nature. 1978 Sep 14;275(5676):104–109. doi: 10.1038/275104a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Biggin M. D., Gibson T. J., Hong G. F. Buffer gradient gels and 35S label as an aid to rapid DNA sequence determination. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1983 Jul;80(13):3963–3965. doi: 10.1073/pnas.80.13.3963. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Breathnach R., Chambon P. Organization and expression of eucaryotic split genes coding for proteins. Annu Rev Biochem. 1981;50:349–383. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bi.50.070181.002025. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Chan R. K., Melnick L. M., Blair L. C., Thorner J. Extracellular suppression allows mating by pheromone-deficient sterile mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. J Bacteriol. 1983 Aug;155(2):903–906. doi: 10.1128/jb.155.2.903-906.1983. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Domdey H., Apostol B., Lin R. J., Newman A., Brody E., Abelson J. Lariat structures are in vivo intermediates in yeast pre-mRNA splicing. Cell. 1984 Dec;39(3 Pt 2):611–621. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(84)90468-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Fields S., Herskowitz I. The yeast STE12 product is required for expression of two sets of cell-type specific genes. Cell. 1985 Oct;42(3):923–930. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(85)90288-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Guarente L., Mason T. Heme regulates transcription of the CYC1 gene of S. cerevisiae via an upstream activation site. Cell. 1983 Apr;32(4):1279–1286. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(83)90309-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Guarente L. Yeast promoters: positive and negative elements. Cell. 1984 Apr;36(4):799–800. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(84)90028-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Hinnen A., Hicks J. B., Fink G. R. Transformation of yeast. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1978 Apr;75(4):1929–1933. doi: 10.1073/pnas.75.4.1929. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Ito H., Fukuda Y., Murata K., Kimura A. Transformation of intact yeast cells treated with alkali cations. J Bacteriol. 1983 Jan;153(1):163–168. doi: 10.1128/jb.153.1.163-168.1983. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Jensen R., Sprague G. F., Jr, Herskowitz I. Regulation of yeast mating-type interconversion: feedback control of HO gene expression by the mating-type locus. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1983 May;80(10):3035–3039. doi: 10.1073/pnas.80.10.3035. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Johnson A. D., Herskowitz I. A repressor (MAT alpha 2 Product) and its operator control expression of a set of cell type specific genes in yeast. Cell. 1985 Aug;42(1):237–247. doi: 10.1016/s0092-8674(85)80119-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Mackay V., Manney T. R. Mutations affecting sexual conjugation and related processes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. II. Genetic analysis of nonmating mutants. Genetics. 1974 Feb;76(2):273–288. doi: 10.1093/genetics/76.2.273. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. McKnight S. L. Functional relationships between transcriptional control signals of the thymidine kinase gene of herpes simplex virus. Cell. 1982 Dec;31(2 Pt 1):355–365. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(82)90129-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Messing J., Vieira J. A new pair of M13 vectors for selecting either DNA strand of double-digest restriction fragments. Gene. 1982 Oct;19(3):269–276. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(82)90016-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Miller A. M., MacKay V. L., Nasmyth K. A. Identification and comparison of two sequence elements that confer cell-type specific transcription in yeast. Nature. 1985 Apr 18;314(6012):598–603. doi: 10.1038/314598a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Sanger F., Nicklen S., Coulson A. R. DNA sequencing with chain-terminating inhibitors. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1977 Dec;74(12):5463–5467. doi: 10.1073/pnas.74.12.5463. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Siliciano P. G., Tatchell K. Transcription and regulatory signals at the mating type locus in yeast. Cell. 1984 Jul;37(3):969–978. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(84)90431-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Sprague G. F., Jr, Blair L. C., Thorner J. Cell interactions and regulation of cell type in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Annu Rev Microbiol. 1983;37:623–660. doi: 10.1146/annurev.mi.37.100183.003203. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Sprague G. F., Jr, Jensen R., Herskowitz I. Control of yeast cell type by the mating type locus: positive regulation of the alpha-specific STE3 gene by the MAT alpha 1 product. Cell. 1983 Feb;32(2):409–415. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(83)90460-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Strathern J., Hicks J., Herskowitz I. Control of cell type in yeast by the mating type locus. The alpha 1-alpha 2 hypothesis. J Mol Biol. 1981 Apr 15;147(3):357–372. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(81)90488-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Struhl K., Davis R. W. Position effects in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. J Mol Biol. 1981 Nov 5;152(3):569–575. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(81)90269-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Wilson K. L., Herskowitz I. Negative regulation of STE6 gene expression by the alpha 2 product of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Mol Cell Biol. 1984 Nov;4(11):2420–2427. doi: 10.1128/mcb.4.11.2420. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America are provided here courtesy of National Academy of Sciences

RESOURCES