daemon@ig.UUCP (11/10/87)
From: JAMES LEONARDO <RDICKSON.JONES@BIONET-20.ARPA> I am a new postdoc in the laboratory of R. Dickson at the University of Kentucky (Dept. of Biochemistry). The research in the lab is directed toward the analysis of the regulation of the genes required for galactose utilization in Saccharomyces and Kluyveromyces lactis. Specifically, we are interested in the action of the trans-acting regulatory proteins encoded by the GAL4 gene in Saccharomyces, and LAC9 in Kluyveromyces. These genes are homologous, and both encode proteins which activate gene transc ription by binding to UAS sequences upstream of the target genes. We have shown that the Kluyveromyces gene is functional in gal4 Saccharomyces atrains and that the GAL4 gene is functional in lac9 Kluyveromyces strains. However, the GAL4 gene is capable of mediating severe glucose repression of the target genes in both species, while LAC9 is not. My research is focusing on the identification of the domain of the GAL4 protein which is able to confer glucose repression. The approach which is being used (in collaboration with J. Hoppers lab), is the construction of LAC9-GAL4 chimeric genes. We hope to identify the functional domain of the GAL4 protein which is sufficient to confer glucose repression upon the LAC9 chimera in this way. We plan to follow up with site-directed mutagenesis studies in order to more precisely define the sequences required for repression. Keith Jones -------