Glucose transport in the yeast Kluyveromyces lactis. II. Transcriptional regulation of the glucose transporter gene RAG1.

The RAG1 gene encodes a membrane protein involved in the low-affinity glucose/fructose transport system of the yeast Kluyveromyces lactis. Analysis of steady-state mRNA levels analysis and quantitation of expression by beta-galactosidase from RAG1-lacZ fusions assays revealed that the RAG1 gene was poorly expressed in cells grown under gluconeogenesis conditions, but was induced more than ten-fold when they were grown on various sugars. These sugars included glucose, fructose, mannose, sucrose, raffinose, as well as galactose. Nucleotide sequence and deletion analysis of the 5' flanking region of the RAG1 gene showed that an essential cis-acting element required for induced transcription of the RAG1 gene resided between -615 and -750 from the coding sequence. This region contained a 22 bp purine stretch, and a pair of 11 bp direct repeat sequences. The 11 bp repeats harbor a CCAAT motif, a consensus sequence for binding of the yeast and mammalian HAP2/3/4-type protein complex. The transcription of the RAG1 gene was dramatically affected by three unlinked mutations, rag4, rag5 and rag8. We discuss the possible roles of RAG4, RAG5 and RAG8 gene products in the expression of the RAG1 gene, as well as the importance of the inducible RAG1 gene in the fermentative growth of K. lactis.