A eukaryotic transcriptional activator bearing the DNA specificity of a prokaryotic repressor.
We describe a new protein that binds to DNA and activates gene transcription in yeast. This protein, LexA-GAL4, is a hybrid of LexA, an Escherichia coli repressor protein, and GAL4, a Saccharomyces cerevisiae transcriptional activator. The hybrid protein, synthesized in yeast, activates transcription of a gene if and only if a lexA operator is present near the transcription start site. Thus, the DNA binding function of GAL4 can be replaced with that of a prokaryotic repressor without loss of the transcriptional activation function. These results suggest that DNA-bound LexA-GAL4 and DNA-bound GAL4 activate transcription by contacting other proteins.
D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D009875:Operator Regions, Genetic; D011485:Protein Binding; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D012097:Repressor Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D000099160:LexA Repressor Protein
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D005656:Fungal Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases; D000099160:LexA Repressor Protein