Structural and functional analysis of the MAL1 locus of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

We describe the isolation of a 22.6-kilobase fragment of DNA containing the MAL1 locus of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Our results demonstrate that the MAL1 locus, like the MAL6 locus, is a complex locus containing three genes. These genes were organized similarly to their MAL6 counterparts. We refer to them as MAL11, MAL12, and MAL13 and show that they are functionally homologous to the MAL61 (encoding maltose permease), MAL62 (encoding maltase), and MAL63 (encoding the positive regulator) genes of the MAL6 locus. Transcription from each of the three genes was analyzed in a strain carrying the undisrupted MAL1 locus and in strains carrying single disruptions in each of the MAL1 genes. The MAL1 and MAL1 loci were found to be highly sequence homologous and conserved throughout the region containing these three genes. The strain used to isolate the MAL1 locus also carried the tightly linked SUC1 gene. The SUC1 gene was found to be located on the same 22.6-kilobase fragment containing the MAL1 locus and 5 kilobases from the 3' end of the MAL12 gene. The meaning of these results with regard to the mechanism of regulation of maltose fermentation is discussed.