Yeast transcription factor Oaf1 forms homodimer and induces some oleate-responsive genes in absence of Pip2.

Genes encoding peroxisomal proteins in the yeast Saccharomyces cereviasiae are induced in the presence of oleate in growth medium. This induction is known to be mediated by the binding of a heterodimer of transcription factors Oaf1 and Pip2 to an upstream activating sequence called ORE (oleate response element). By analyzing expression of nine ORE-containing genes we show that the presence of an ORE sequence is not sufficient to confer oleate inducibility, as three such genes were in fact expressed constitutively. Moreover, some of the oleate-inducible genes undergo activation even in the absence of Pip2. Using coimmunoprecipitation we show that, when Pip2 is missing, Oaf1 may form homodimers which apparently substitute for the Oaf1-Pip2 heterodimer.