van der Felden J, Weisser S, Brueckner S, Lenz P, Moesch HU

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae and related yeast species, the TEA transcription factor Tec1 together with a second transcription factor, Ste12, controls development including cell adhesion and filament formation. Tec1-Ste12 complexes control target genes through Tec1 binding sites (TCSs) that can be further combined with Ste12 binding sites (PREs) for cooperative DNA ...

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binding. Activity of Tec1-Ste12 complexes is known to be under negative control of the transcriptional co-repressors Dig1/2 that confer regulation by upstream signaling pathways. Here, we find that Tec1 and Ste12 can associate with the transcriptional co-regulators Msa1 and Msa2, which were previously found to associate with the cell cycle regulators Mbp1-Swi6 (MBF) and Swi4-Swi6 (SBF) to control G1-specific transcription. We further show that Tec1-Ste12-Msa1/2 complexes (i) do not contain Swi4 or Mbp1, (ii) assemble at single TCS or combined TCS-PRE elements in vitro and (iii) co-regulate genes involved in adhesive and filamentous growth by direct promoter binding in vivo. Finally, we find that in contrast to Dig proteins Msa1/2 seem to act as co-activators that enhance transcriptional activity of Tec1-Ste12. Taken together, our findings add an additional layer of complexity to the control mechanisms exerted by the evolutionary conserved TEA domain and Ste12-like transcription factors.

Date: Apr. 14, 2014

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