Fission yeast genes that confer resistance to staurosporine encode an AP-1-like transcription factor and a protein kinase related to the mammalian ERK1/MAP2 and budding yeast FUS3 and KSS1 kinases

Abstract

Staurosporine, a potent inhibitor of protein kinase C, arrests fission yeast cell elongation specifically at a stage immediately after cell division. We isolated two genes, which, when carried on multicopy plasmids, confer drug resistance in fission yeast. One, spk1+, encodes a protein kinase highly similar (54% identity) to those encoded by the mammalian ERK1/MAP2 kinase and the budding yeast KSS1 and FUS3 genes. It is not essential for vegetative growth of Schizosaccharomyces pombe cells but is required for conjugation. The spk1+ gene product is a 45-kD protein enriched in the nucleus, and its level increases 10-fold after addition of staurosporine. The other gene pap1+ encodes an AP-1-like transcription factor that contains a region rich in basic amino acids followed by a "leucine zipper" motif. The pap1+ gene is required for spk1(+)-conferred staurosporine resistance. These two genes appear to function as a part of the fission yeast growth control pathway.