title: Temperature-dependent regulation of a heterologous transcriptional activation domain fused to yeast heat shock transcription factor.
abstract: The heat shock transcription factor (HSF) of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is posttranslationally modified. At low growth temperatures, it activates transcription of heat shock genes only poorly; after shift to high temperatures, it activates transcription readily. In an effort to elucidate the mechanism of this regulation, we constructed a series of HSF-VP16 fusions that join the HSF DNA-binding domain to the strong transcriptional activation domain from the VP16 gene of herpes simplex virus. Replacement of the endogenous C-terminal transcriptional activation domain with that of VP16 generates an HSF derivative that exhibits behavior reminiscent of HSF itself: low transcriptional activation activity at normal growth temperature and high activity after heat shock. HSF can thus restrain the activity of the heterologous VP16 transcriptional activation domain. To determine what is required for repression of activity at low temperature, we deleted portions of HSF from this HSF-VP16 fusion to map the regulatory domain. We also isolated point mutations that convert the HSF-VP16 fusion into a constitutive transcriptional activator. We conclude that the central, evolutionarily conserved domain of HSF, encompassing the DNA-binding and multimerization domains, contains a major determinant of temperature-dependent regulation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington 47405.
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Bonner
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Heyward
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Fackenthal
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004271:DNA, Fungal; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D015966:Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D015151:Immunoblotting; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D010641:Phenotype; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011499:Protein Processing, Post-Translational; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D013696:Temperature; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D004271:DNA, Fungal; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D005656:Fungal Proteins; C067168:HSF1 protein, S cerevisiae; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors