Strain-specific lethal effect of the adenovirus E1a protein on Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Various adenovirus E1a proteins, including 13S protein, 12S protein and three other derivatives of 13S protein with deletions were expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Both the C-terminal 67 residues and the 13S unique domain are required for the nuclear targeting in yeast. The N-terminus containing multiple functional domains appears to be involved in the G1 arrest of diploid yeast and two other regions, the region containing amino acid residues between 122 and 139, and the 67 residues of the C-terminus are required for the lethal effect on haploid yeast. The latter effect, however, is dependent on strains. Thus, the yeast system may be utilized for functional dissection of E1a protein by further analyzing metabolic consequences.