Promoter strength influences the S phase requirement for establishment of silencing at the Saccharomyces cerevisiae silent mating type loci

Ren, J., Wang, C. L., Sternglanz, R. (October 2010) Promoter strength influences the S phase requirement for establishment of silencing at the Saccharomyces cerevisiae silent mating type loci. Genetics, 186 (2). pp. 551-560.

URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20679515
DOI: 10.1534/genetics.110.120592

Abstract

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the two cryptic mating type loci, HML and HMR, are transcriptionally silent. Previous studies on the establishment of silencing at HMR identified a requirement for passage through S phase. However, the underlying mechanism for this requirement is still unknown. In contrast to HMR, we found that substantial silencing of HML could be established without passage through S phase. To understand this difference, we analyzed several chimeric HM loci and found that promoter strength determined the S phase requirement. To silence a locus with a strong promoter such as the a1/a2 promoter required passage through S phase while HM loci with weaker promoters such as the α1/α2 or TRP1 promoter did not show this requirement. Thus, transcriptional activity counteracts the establishment of silencing but can be overcome by passage through S phase. Copyright © 2010 by the Genetics Society of America.

Item Type: Paper
Subjects: bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > genetics & nucleic acid processing > DNA, RNA structure, function, modification > transcription
organism description > yeast > Saccharomyces
CSHL Authors:
Communities: CSHL Post Doctoral Fellows
CSHL labs > Martienssen lab
CSHL labs > Van Aelst lab
Depositing User: CSHL Librarian
Date: October 2010
Date Deposited: 04 Oct 2011 15:22
Last Modified: 03 May 2013 14:07
PMCID: PMC2954484
Related URLs:
URI: https://repository.cshl.edu/id/eprint/15513

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