Control of mRNA Turnover as a Mechanism of Glucose Repression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Abstract

We have examined the expression of the gene encoding the iron-protein subunit (Ip) of succinate dehydrogenase in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The gene had been cloned by us and shown to be subject to glucose regulation (A. Lombardo, K. Carine, and I. E. Scheffler, J. Biol. Chem. 265:10419-10423, 1990). We discovered that a significant part of the regulation of the Ip mRNA levels by glucose involves the regulation of the turnover rate of this mRNA. In the presence of glucose, the half-life appears to be less than 5 min, while in glycerol medium, the half-life is >60 min. The gene is also regulated transcriptionally by glucose. The upstream promoter sequence appeared to have four regulatory elements with consensus sequences shown to be responsible for the interaction with the HAP2/3/4 regulatory complex. A deletion analysis has shown that the two distal elements are redundant. These measurements were carried out by Northern (RNA) analyses of Ip mRNA transcripts as well as by assays of β-galactosidase activity in cells carrying constructs of the Ip promoter linked to the lacZ coding sequence. These observations on the regulation of mRNA stability were also extended to the mRNA of the flavoprotein subunit of succinate dehydrogenase and in some experiments of iso-1-cytochrome c.