RNA polymerase I transcription factor Rrn3 is functionally conserved between yeast and human

RNA polymerase I transcription factor Rrn3 is functionally conserved between yeast and human

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, 1100 Fairview Avenue North, Seattle, WA 98109

Communicated by Robert N. Eisenman, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA (received for review December 24, 1999)

Abstract

We have cloned a human cDNA that is related to the RNA polymerase I transcription factor Rrn3 of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The recombinant human protein displays both sequence similarity and immunological crossreactivity to yeast Rrn3 and is capable of rescuing a yeast strain carrying a disruption of the RRN3 gene in vivo. Point mutation of an amino acid that is conserved between the yeast and human proteins compromises the function of each factor, confirming that the observed sequence similarity is functionally significant. Rrn3 is the first RNA polymerase I-specific transcription factor shown to be functionally conserved between yeast and mammals, suggesting that at least one mechanism that regulates ribosomal RNA synthesis is conserved among eukaryotes.

Footnotes

↵ * To whom reprint requests should be addressed. E-mail: rreeder{at}fred.fhcrc.org.
Data deposition: The sequence reported in this paper has been deposited in the GenBank database (accession no. AF227156).
Article published online before print: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 10.1073/pnas.080063997.
Article and publication date are at www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.080063997
Abbreviations:

rRNA,

ribosomal RNA;

pol I,

RNA polymerase I;

UAF,

upstream activation factor;

hRrn3,

human Rrn3;

yRrn3,

yeast Rrn3;

EST,

expressed sequence tag;

RACE,

rapid amplification of cDNA ends