Isolation and characterization of further cis- and trans-acting regulatory elements involved in the synthesis of glucose-repressible alcohol dehydrogenase (ADHII) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Abstract

Starting with yeast cells lacking the constitutive alcohol dehydrogenase activity (ADHI), mutants with partially glucose-insensitive formation of ADHII were isolated. Genetic analysis showed that four mutants (designated ADR3c) were linked to the ADHII-structural gene, ADR2, and were cis-dominant. On derepression, two of them produced elevated ADHII-levels, indicating a promotor function of the altered controlling site. The other ADR3c-mutant alleles affected the ADHII-subunit association in diploids carrying two electrophoretically distinct alleles of the structural gene ADR2. Twelve semidominant constitutive mutants could be attributed to gene ADR1 (ADR1c-alleles) previously identified by recessive mutants with blocked derepression. This suggested a positive regulatory role of the ADR1 gene product on the expression of the ADHII-structural gene. A pleiotropic mutation ccr1 (Ciriacy, 1977) was epistatic over glucose-resistant ADHII-formation caused by ADR1c-alleles. From this it was concluded that CCR1 specifies for a product co-activating the structural gene or modifying the ADR1-gene product. A further regulatory element (gene designation ADR4) not linked to the structural gene could be identified upon isolation of recessive constitutive mutants adr4 from a ccr1 ADR1c-double mutant.