Multiple copies of SUC4 regulatory regions may cause partial de-repression of invertase synthesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Summary

Transformation to generate multiple copies of regulatory DNA sequences has been used to study the interactions between regulatory proteins and their target sequences, since a high copy number of these sequences may titrate trans-acting regulatory proteins. We have analyzed the synthesis of invertase in yeast strains carrying different SUC genes transformed with the multiple-copy plasmid pSH143, a derivative of pJDB207 containing the promoter and upstream regulatory sequences of SUC4. The results obtained seem to be strain dependent. Under repressing conditions a high copy number of SUC4 promoter regions may cause increased expression of the invertase genes resulting in the synthesis of external glycosylated protein. A similar result was obtained under de-repressing conditions since transformants from some strains showed higher levels of activity. These results suggest that transcriptional regulatory (negative) factors may become limiting when the copy number of their target DNA sequences is increased. This effect may depend on the amount of active repressor molecules as well as on their affinity for SUC4 upstream sequences. This is discussed on the basis of the nucleotide sequences of SUC promoters.