A novel type of silencing factor, Clr2, is necessary for transcriptional silencing at various chromosomal locations in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe.

ABSTRACT: The mating-type region of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe comprises three loci: mat1, mat2-P and mat3-M. mat1 is expressed and determines the mating type of the cell. mat2-P and mat3-M are two storage cassettes located in a 17 kb heterochromatic region with features identical to those of mammalian heterochromatin. Mutations in the swi6+, clr1+, clr2+, clr3+, clr4+ and clr6+ genes were obtained in screens for factors necessary for silencing the mat2-P-mat3-M region. swi6+ encodes a chromodomain protein, clr3+ and clr6+ histone deacetylases, and clr4+ a histone methyltransferase. Here, we describe the cloning and characterization of clr2+. The clr2+ gene encodes a 62 kDa protein with no obvious sequence homologs. Deletion of clr2+ not only affects transcriptional repression in th

SUBMITTER: Bjerling P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC516054 | biostudies-literature | 2004

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature