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Molecular and Cellular Biology, August 1999, p. 5393-5404, Vol. 19, No. 8
0270-7306/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Transcriptional Elements Involved in the Repression
of Ribosomal Protein Synthesis
Baojie
Li,
Concepcion R.
Nierras,
and
Jonathan R.
Warner*
Department of Cell Biology, Albert Einstein
College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461
Received 29 January 1999/Returned for modification 14 April
1999/Accepted 11 May 1999
The ribosomal proteins (RPs) of Saccharomyces
cerevisiae are encoded by 137 genes that are among the most
transcriptionally active in the genome. These genes are coordinately
regulated: a shift up in temperature leads to a rapid, but temporary,
decline in RP mRNA levels. A defect in any part of the secretory
pathway leads to greatly reduced ribosome synthesis, including the
rapid loss of RP mRNA. Here we demonstrate that the loss of RP mRNA is
due to the rapid transcriptional silencing of the RP genes, coupled to
the naturally short lifetime of their transcripts. The data suggest
further that a global inhibition of polymerase II transcription leads
to overestimates of the stability of individual mRNAs. The
transcription of most RP genes is activated by two Rap1p binding sites,
250 to 400 bp upstream from the initiation of transcription. Rap1p is
both an activator and a silencer of transcription. The swapping of
promoters between RPL30 and ACT1 or
GAL1 demonstrated that the Rap1p binding sites of
RPL30 are sufficient to silence the transcription of
ACT1 in response to a defect in the secretory pathway.
Sir3p and Sir4p, implicated in the Rap1p-mediated repression of silent
mating type genes and of telomere-proximal genes, do not influence such
silencing of RP genes. Sir2p, implicated in the silencing both of the
silent mating type genes and of genes within the ribosomal DNA locus, does not influence the repression of either RP or rRNA genes. Surprisingly, the 180-bp sequence of RPL30 that lies
between the Rap1p sites and the transcription initiation site is also
sufficient to silence the Gal4p-driven transcription in response to a
defect in the secretory pathway, by a mechanism that requires the
silencing region of Rap1p. We conclude that for Rap1p to activate the
transcription of an RP gene it must bind to upstream sequences; yet for
Rap1p to repress the transcription of an RP gene it need not bind to the gene directly. Thus, the cell has evolved a two-pronged approach to
effect the rapid extinction of RP synthesis in response to the stress
imposed by a heat shock or by a failure of the secretory pathway.
Calculations based on recent transcriptome data and on the half-life of
the RP mRNAs suggest that in a rapidly growing cell the transcription
of RP mRNAs accounts for nearly 50% of the total transcriptional
events initiated by RNA polymerase II. Thus, the sudden silencing of
the RP genes must have a dramatic effect on the overall transcriptional
economy of the cell.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Cell Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1300 Morris Park
Ave., Bronx, NY 10461. Phone: (718) 430-3022. Fax: (718) 430-8574. E-mail: warner{at}aecom.yu.edu.

Present address: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular
Biophysics, Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons,
New York, NY
10032.

Present address: Juvenile Diabetes Foundation International, New
York, NY
10005.
Molecular and Cellular Biology, August 1999, p. 5393-5404, Vol. 19, No. 8
0270-7306/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
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