| Title: | Novel factor highly conserved among eukaryotes controls sexual development in fission yeast |
| Author(s): | Okazaki N; Okazaki K; Watanabe Y; Kato-Hayashi M; Yamamoto M; Okayama H; |
| Address: | "Okayama Cell Switching Project, ERATO, JRDC, Kyoto, Japan" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 0270-7306 (Print) 1098-5549 (Electronic) 0270-7306 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "In the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, the onset of sexual development is controlled mainly by two external signals, nutrient starvation and mating pheromone availability. We have isolated a novel gene named rcd1+ as a key factor required for nitrogen starvation-induced sexual development. rcd1+ encodes a 283-amino-acid protein with no particular motifs. However, genes highly homologous to rcd1+ (encoding amino acids with >70% identity) are present at least in budding yeasts, plants, nematodes, and humans. Cells with rcd1+ deleted are sterile if sexual development is induced by nitrogen starvation but fertile if it is induced by glucose starvation. This results largely from a defect in nitrogen starvation-invoked induction of ste11+, a key transcriptional factor gene required for the onset of sexual development. The striking conservation of the gene throughout eukaryotes may suggest the presence of an evolutionarily conserved differentiation controlling system" |
| Keywords: | Amino Acid Sequence Base Sequence Cell Differentiation DNA-Binding Proteins/metabolism Fertility/genetics Fungal Proteins/chemistry/metabolism/*physiology Humans Molecular Sequence Data Nitrogen/physiology *RNA-Binding Proteins *Saccharomyces cerevisiae P; |
| Notes: | "MedlineOkazaki, N Okazaki, K Watanabe, Y Kato-Hayashi, M Yamamoto, M Okayama, H eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't 1998/02/03 Mol Cell Biol. 1998 Feb; 18(2):887-95. doi: 10.1128/MCB.18.2.887" |
