Demarcation of a Sequence Involved in Mediating Catabolite Repression of the Gene for the 11 KDa Subunit VIII of Ubiquinol-cytochrome C Oxidoreductase in Saccharomyces Cerevisiae

A regulatory element has been identified in the promoter region of the gene encoding the 11 kDa subunit VIII of the ubiquinol-cytochrome c oxidoreductase in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The element, which is approximately 40 bp long and situated 185 bp upstream of the initiator ATG, is essential for induction of gene expression during growth in the presence of non-fermentable carbon sources. This is shown by the regulated synthesis of beta-galactosidase in yeast cells harbouring a CYC1-lacZ fusion gene, in which the CYC1 UAS's had been replaced by a 43 bp subunit VIII gene promoter fragment. In addition two DNA-binding activities, which may represent either separate factors or different forms of a single factor, have been detected. Both factors are abundant and they bind in a mutually exclusive fashion to a DNA sequence just upstream of the regulatory element. Although it is unlikely that these factors are directly involved in the response of the subunit VIII gene to catabolite repression, the position of their binding sites relative to the UAS and to the 3'-terminus of a gene located only 361 bp upstream suggest that they are important in modulating transcriptional activity of this region.