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  • The EMBO Journal (2006) 25, 3576 - 3585
  • doi:10.1038/sj.emboj.7601235

Published online: 27 July 2006

Yeast homolog of a cancer-testis antigen defines a new transcription complex

Elena Kisseleva-Romanova1,a, Raffaele Lopreiato1, Agnès Baudin-Baillieu1,b, Jean-Claude Rousselle2, Laila Ilan1, Kay Hofmann3, Abdelkader Namane2, Carl Mann4 and Domenico Libri1

  1. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Centre de Genetique Moleculaire, Gif sur Yvette, Paris, France
  2. Institut Pasteur, Génopole, Plate-Forme de Protéomique, Paris Cedex, France
  3. Miltenji Biotech GmbH, Koeln, Germany
  4. Biochemistry Department, F Edward Hébert School of Medicine, USUHS, Bethesda, MD, USA

Correspondence to:

Domenico Libri, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Centre de Genetique Moleculaire, 91190 Gif sur Yvette, Paris, France. Tel.: +33 1 69823809; Fax: +33 1 69823877; E-mail: libri@cgm.cnrs-gif.fr

aPresent address: Department of Biochemistry, Oxford University, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QU, UK

bPresent address: Institut de Génétique et Microbiologie, Université Paris-Sud, 91405 Orsay, France

Received 13 December 2005; Accepted 20 June 2006

We have isolated a new yeast gene (PCC1) that codes for a factor homologous to human cancer-testis antigens. We provide evidence that Pcc1p is a new transcription factor and that its mutation affects expression of several genes, some of which are involved in cell cycle progression and polarized growth. Mutation of Pcc1p also affects the expression of GAL genes by impairing the recruitment of the SAGA and Mediator co-activators. We characterize a new complex that contains Pcc1p, a kinase, Bud32p, a putative endopeptidase, Kae1p and two additional proteins encoded by ORFs YJL184w and YMLO36w. Genetic and physical interactions among these proteins strongly suggest that this complex is a functional unit. Chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments and multiple genetic interactions of pcc1 mutants with mutants of the transcription apparatus and chromatin modifying enzymes underscore the direct role of the complex in transcription. Functional complementation experiments indicate that the transcriptional function of this set of genes is conserved throughout evolution.

  • Keywords:

    • cancer-testis antigens,
    • EKC-KEOPS,
    • endopeptidase-ATPase,
    • kinase,
    • transcription