Centromere promoter factors (CPF1) of the yeasts Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Kluyveromyces lactis are functionally exchangeable, despite low overall homology

• Published in: Current genetics 1994-09, Vol.26 (3), p.198-207
• Main Authors: Mulder, W. (Biocentrum Amsterdam (Netherlands). Inst. for Molecular Cell Biology. Section for Molecular Biology), Winkler, A.A, Scholten, I.H.J.M, Zonneveld, B.J.M, Winde, J.H. de, Steensma, H.Y. de, Grivell, L.A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: ACIDE AMINE; ADN; Amino Acid Sequence; AMINOACIDOS; Base Sequence; Binding Sites; Biological and medical sciences; Centromere; CHROMOSOME; Classical genetics, quantitative genetics, hybrids; Consensus Sequence; CPF1; CROMOSOMAS; DNA-Binding Proteins - metabolism; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal; Genes, Fungal; Genetic Complementation Test; Genetics of eukaryotes. Biological and molecular evolution; Kluyveromyces - genetics; KLUYVEROMYCES LACTIS; Molecular Sequence Data; Promoter Regions, Genetic; SACCHAROMYCES CEREVISIAE; Saccharomyces cerevisiae - genetics; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; Thallophyta, bryophyta; Transcription regulation; Vegetals
• ISSN: 0172-8083; 1432-0983
• DOI: 10.1007/BF00309548

The KlCPF1 gene, coding for the centromere and promoter factor CPF1 from Kluyveromyces lactis, has been cloned by functional complementation of the methionine auxotrophic phenotype of a Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutant lacking ScCPF1. The amino-acid sequences of both CPF1 proteins show a relatively-low overall identity (31%), but a highly-homologous C-terminal domain (86%). This region constitutes the DNA-binding domain with basic-helix-loop-helix and leucine-zipper motifs, features common to the myc-related transcription factor family. The N-terminal two-thirds of the CPF1 proteins show no significant similarity, although the presence of acidic regions is a shared feature. In KlCPF1, the acidic region is a prominent stretch of approximately 40 consecutive aspartate and glutamate residues, suggesting that this part might be involved in transcriptional activation. In-vitro mobility-shift experiments were used to establish that both CPF1 proteins bind to the consensus binding site RTCACRTG (CDEI element). In contrast to S. cerevisiae, CPF1 genedisruption is lethal in K. lactis. The homologous CPF1 genes were transformed to both S. cerevisiae and K. lactis cpf1-null strains. Indistinguishable phenotypes were observed, indicating that, not withstanding the long non-conserved N-terminal region, the proteins are sufficiently homologous to overcome the phenotypes associated with cpf1 gene-disruption.