title: DSC1-MCB regulation of meiotic transcription in Schizosaccharomyces pombe.
abstract: Meiosis is initiated from the G1 phase of the mitotic cell cycle, and consists of pre-meiotic S-phase followed by two successive nuclear divisions. Here we show that control of gene expression during pre-meiotic S-phase in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe is mediated by a DNA synthesis control-like transcription factor complex (DSC1), which acts upon M lu1 cell cycle box (MCB) promoter motifs. Several genes, including rec8+, rec11+, cdc18+, and cdc22+, which contain MCB motifs in their promoter regions, are found to be co-ordinately regulated during pre-meiotic S-phase. Both synthetic and native MCB motifs are shown to confer meiotic-specific transcription on a heterologous reporter gene. A DSC1-like transcription factor complex that binds to MCB motifs was also identified in meiotic cells. The effect of mutating and over-expressing individual components of DSC1 (cdc10+, res1+, res2+, rep1+ and rep2+) on the transcription of cdc22+, rec8+ and rec11+ during meiosis was examined. We found that cdc10+, res2+, rep1+ and rep2+ are required for correct meiotic transcription, while res1+ is not required for this process. This work demonstrates a role for MCB motifs and a DSC1-like transcription factor complex in controlling transcription during meiosis in fission yeast, and suggests a mechanism for how this specific expression occurs.
authors.affiliation: Division of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Institute of Biomedical and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, Scotland, UK.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cunliffe
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: McInerny
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000235:genetics; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015966:Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal; D005800:Genes, Fungal; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D008540:Meiosis / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D016196:S Phase / Q000235:genetics; D012568:Schizosaccharomyces / Q000166:cytology* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D029702:Schizosaccharomyces pombe Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D004271:DNA, Fungal; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; C096254:Rep2 protein, S pombe; D029702:Schizosaccharomyces pombe Proteins; D015534:Trans-Activators; D014157:Transcription Factors; C061178:cdc10 protein, S pombe; C087051:rep1 protein, S pombe; C078732:res1 protein, S pombe; C087021:res2 protein, S pombe