Transcriptional control of yeast ribosome biogenesis: A multifaceted role for general regulatory factors

ABSTRACT

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a group of more than 200 co-regulated genes (Ribi genes) is involved in ribosome biogenesis. This regulon has recently been shown to rely on a small set of transcriptional regulators (mainly Abf1, but also Reb1, Tbf1 and Rap1) previously referred to as general regulatory factors (GRFs) because of their widespread binding and action at many promoters and other specialized genomic regions. Intriguingly, Abf1 binding to Ribi genes is differentially modulated in response to distinct nutrition signaling pathways. Such a dynamic promoter association has the potential to orchestrate both activation and repression of Ribi genes in synergy with neighboring regulatory sites and through the functional interplay of histone acetyltransferases and deacetylases.

KEYWORDS:

• Abf1
• histone acetylation
• Rap1
• Reb1
• Ribi genes
• Rpd3 histone deacetylase
• Tbf1

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.

Acknowledgments

We thank Rodolfo Negri (Sapienza University of Rome) and Gloria Spagnoli and Elisabetta Levati (University of Parma) for discussions and support.

Funding

The work in authors' laboratory is supported by Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC, Grant IG16877 to G.D.).