Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1994 Dec;14(12):8155-65.
doi: 10.1128/mcb.14.12.8155-8165.1994.

Heat shock transcription factor activates yeast metallothionein gene expression in response to heat and glucose starvation via distinct signalling pathways

K T Tamai  1 , X Liu, P Silar, T Sosinowski, D J Thiele
Affiliations

Heat shock transcription factor activates yeast metallothionein gene expression in response to heat and glucose starvation via distinct signalling pathways

K T Tamai et al. Mol Cell Biol. 1994 Dec.

Abstract

Metallothioneins constitute a class of low-molecular-weight, cysteine-rich metal-binding stress proteins which are biosynthetically regulated at the level of gene transcription in response to metals, hormones, cytokines, and other physiological and environmental stresses. In this report, we demonstrate that the Saccharomyces cerevisiae metallothionein gene, designated CUP1, is transcriptionally activated in response to heat shock and glucose starvation through the action of heat shock transcription factor (HSF) and a heat shock element located within the CUP1 promoter upstream regulatory region. CUP1 gene activation in response to both stresses occurs rapidly; however, heat shock activates CUP1 gene expression transiently, whereas glucose starvation activates CUP1 gene expression in a sustained manner for at least 2.5 h. Although a carboxyl-terminal HSF transcriptional activation domain is critical for the activation of CUP1 transcription in response to both heat shock stress and glucose starvation, this region is dispensable for transient heat shock activation of at least two genes encoding members of the S. cerevisiae hsp70 family. Furthermore, inactivation of the chromosomal SNF1 gene, encoding a serine-threonine protein kinase, or the SNF4 gene, encoding a SNF1 cofactor, abolishes CUP1 transcriptional activation in response to glucose starvation without altering heat shock-induced transcription. These studies demonstrate that the S. cerevisiae HSF responds to multiple, distinct stimuli to activate yeast metallothionein gene transcription and that these stimuli elicit responses through nonidentical, genetically separable signalling pathways.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 1975 Apr;193(1):281-92 - PubMed
    1. Nucleic Acids Res. 1992 Mar 25;20(6):1183-91 - PubMed
    1. Biochem J. 1984 Apr 1;219(1):1-14 - PubMed
    1. Science. 1985 May 10;228(4700):685-90 - PubMed
    1. Science. 1986 Sep 12;233(4769):1175-80 - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources