NUCLEIC ACIDS, PROTEIN SYNTHESIS, AND MOLECULAR GENETICS
Distinct Regions of the Swi5 and Ace2 Transcription Factors Are Required for Specific Gene Activation*

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Swi5 and Ace2 are cell cycle-regulated transcription factors that activate expression of early G1-specific genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Swi5 and Ace2 have zinc finger DNA-binding domains that are highly conserved, and the two proteins bind to the same DNA sequences in vitro. Despite this similarity in DNA binding, Swi5 and Ace2 activate different genes in vivo, with Swi5 activating the HO gene and Ace2 activating CTS1expression. In this report we have used chimeric fusions between Swi5 and Ace2 to determine what regions of these proteins are necessary for promoter-specific activation of HO and CTS1. We have identified specific regions of Swi5 and Ace2 that are required for activation of HO and CTS1, respectively. The Swi5 protein bindsHO promoter DNA cooperatively with the Pho2 homeodomain protein, and the HO specificity region of Swi5 identified in the chimeric analysis coincides with the region of Swi5 previously identified that interacts with Pho2 in vitro. Swi5 and Ace2 also activate expression of a number of other genes expressed in G1 phase of the cell cycle, including ASH1,CDC6, EGT2, PCL2, PCL9,RME1, and SIC1. Analysis of the Swi5/Ace2 chimeras shows that distinct regions of Swi5 and Ace2 contribute to the transcriptional activation of some of these other G1-regulated genes.

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*

This work was supported by National Institutes of Health Grants GM39067 and GM48624 and by NCI Grant 5 P30 CA42014 (for oligonucleotide synthesis and DNA sequencing performed at the Huntsman Cancer Institute DNA/Peptide and DNA Sequencing Facilities, respectively).The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. The article must therefore be hereby marked “advertisement” in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

‡

Supported by a predoctoral traineeship under National Institutes of Health Genetics Training Grant 5T32 GM07464. Current address: Beckman Inst., California Inst. of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125.

© 1999 ASBMB. Currently published by Elsevier Inc; originally published by American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.