Transient inhibition of histone deacetylase activity overcomes silencing in the mating-type region in fission yeast.

We have investigated the effects of inhibition of histone de-acetylase activity on silencing at the silent mating-type loci in fission yeast. Treatment of exponentially growing cells with the histone deacetylase inhibitor, trichostatin A (TSA), resulted in derepression of a marker gene inserted 150 bp distal from the silent mat3-M locus. The natural targets for the silencing mechanism in this region were only partially derepressed and the activation appeared to be asymmetric, i.e. the mat2-P cassette remained silent at concentrations that clearly partially derepressed the mat3-M cassette. We further noted that treatment of wild-type h90 cells resulted in the generation of altered sporulation phenotypes, indicating that the treatment affected the expression of mating-type genes and/or mating-type switching. The results are discussed in the light of recent accumulated data regarding the role of deacetylation for silencing in other species.