Identification of the yeast methionine biosynthetic genes that require the centromere binding factor 1 for their transcriptional activation.

The yeast Centromere binding factor I (Cbf1) belongs to the family of the DNA binding factors that recognize the consensus sequence CACGTG. Phenotypic studies of cells lacking Cbf1 revealed that this factor is actually involved in two cellular processes; the fidelity of the chromosomal segregation and the metabolism of sulfur amino acids. However, the function of Cbf1 in the regulation of the sulfur amino acid metabolism is now a matter of controversy in literature with conflicting reports about its binding to the CACGTG sequences found upstream to the methionine biosynthetic genes. To provide a reliable basis for the functional analysis of Cbf1, we present an analysis of the transcription of the methionine biosynthesic genes in cells lacking Cbf1. Our results prove that Cbf1 is indeed involved in the transcriptional regulation of the sulfur amino acid metabolism.