Constitutive RNA synthesis for the yeast activator ADR1 and identification of the ADR1-5c mutation: implications in posttranslational control of ADR1.

The regulation of mRNA production for the yeast positive activator ADR1, a gene required for the expression of the glucose-repressible alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH II), was studied. ADR1 mRNA levels did not vary when yeasts were switched from glucose- to ethanol-containing medium, while ADH II expression increased 100-fold. The mRNA for the ADR1-5c allele, which augments ADH II expression 60-fold during glucose repression, was not present in greater abundance than ADR1 mRNA. Additionally, the ccr1-1 allele, which blocks ADH2 mRNA formation and partially suppresses the ADR1-5c phenotype, did not alter the levels of ADR1 mRNA. These results indicate that ADR1 is not transcriptionally controlled. To determine the character of the ADR1-5c mutation, the region containing the mutation was identified and sequenced. At base pair +683 a G-to-A transition was detected in the ADR1 coding sequence which would result in the substitution of a lysine residue for an arginine at amino acid 228. The location of the ADR1-5c mutation in the interior of the ADR1 coding sequences suggests that it enhances the activity of an extant but inactive ADR1 protein rather than increases the abundance of ADR1 by altered translation of its mRNA. The ADR1-5c mutation occurs in a region of the polypeptide corresponding to a cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase phosphorylation recognition sequence. The potential role of reversible phosphorylation in the posttranslational regulation of ADR1 is discussed.