Regulated gene activation and chromatin modification of structural genes of phospholipid biosynthesis in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Hans-Joachim Schüller
• Subject Area: General Genetics and Functional Genome Biology
• Term: from 2000 to 2009
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5259840

• Final Report Year: 2009

Final Report Abstract

Regulated expression of phospholipid biosynthetic genes by precursor molecules inositol and choline requires the cis-acting element ICRE ("inositol/choline-responsive element") upstream of target genes and interactions of the heterodimeric ICRE-binding protein Ino2 + Ino4 with repressor Opi1 and a large number of pleiotropic factors. During this period of funding, our work concentrated on the following major problems: • Interaction of Ino2 with basal transcription factor Sua7/TFIIB and its importance for activation of genes involved in phospholipid biosynthesis; • Factors required for mediating an Ino2-derived activation signal to the machinery of RNA synthesis; • Functional domains of Opi1 repressor and subsequent execution of gene repression once Opi1 has been targeted to Ino2 + Ino4 binding sites; • Pleiotropic systems of nutrient sensing and their influence on the generation of activating signals of gene derepression; • Comparative analysis of Ino2 and Ino4 in the yeasts S. cerevisiae and C. albicans, leading to the definition of distinct sets of target genes in both yeasts.

Publications

• Dietz, M.; Heyken, W.-T.; Hoppen, J.; Geburtig, S. and Schüller, H.-J.: TFIIB and subunits of the SAGA complex are involved in transcriptional activation of phospholipid biosynthetic genes by the regulatory protein Ino2 in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Mol. Microbiol. 48 (2003) 1119-1130.
  
  
• Heyken, W.-T.; Repenning, A.; Kumme, J. and Schüller, H.-J.: Constitutive expression of yeast phospholipid biosynthetic genes by variants of Ino2 activator defective for interaction with Opi1 repressor. Mol. Microbiol. 56 (2005) 696-707.
  
  
• Heyken, W.-T.; Wagner, C.; Wittmann, J.; Albrecht, A. and Schüller, H.-J.: Negative regulation of phospholipid biosynthesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by a Candida albi-cans orthologue of OPI1. Yeast 20 (2003) 1177-1188.
  
  
• Hoppen, J.; Dietz, M.; Warsow, G.; Rohde, R. and Schüller, H.-J.: Ribosomal protein genes in the yeast Candida albicans may be activated by a heterodimeric transcription factor related to Ino2 and Ino4 from S. cerevisiae. Mol Genet Genomics 278 (2007) 317-330.
  
  
• Hoppen, J.; Repenning, A.; Albrecht, A.; Geburtig, S. and Schüller, H.-J.: Comparative analysis of promoter regions containing binding sites of the heterodimeric transcription factor Ino2/Ino4 involved in yeast phospholipid biosynthesis. Yeast 22 (2005) 601-613.
  
  
• Jacqueline Kumme: Mechanismen der regulierten Expression von Strukturgenen der Phospholipidbiosynthese in der Hefe Saccharomyces cerevisiae. (Juli 2006)
  
  
• Kumme, J.; Dietz, M.; Wagner, C. and Schüller, H.-J.: Dimerization of yeast transcrip-tion factors Ino2 and Ino4 is regulated by precursors of phospholipid biosynthesis mediated by Opi1 repressor. Curr Genet 54 (2008) 35-45.
  
  
• Roth, S.; Kumme, J. and Schüller, H.-J.: Transcriptional activators Cat8 and Sip4 discri-minate between sequence variants of the carbon source-responsive promoter element in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Curr. Genet. 45 (2004) 121-128.
  
  
• Schüller, H.-J.: Transcriptional control of nonfermentative metabolism in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Curr. Genet. 43 (2003) 139-160.
  
  
• Willm-Thomas Heyken: Charakterisierung der Wechselwirkung von Regulatorproteinen der Phospholipidbiosynthese in der Hefe Saccharomyces cerevisiae. (August 2004)