An AT rich region of dyad symmetry is a promoter element in the yeast TRP1 gene.

Abstract

Transcription from the yeast TRP1 promoter results in two classes of transcript, I and II, that are influenced by different promoter elements. The 5' flanking region contains a region of dyad symmetry (RDS) which contains a 12 nucleotide AT rich inverted repeat, separated by a 21 bp spacer region. The RDS lies within a region of the promoter required for transcription of class II RNAs. A series of internal deletions and insertions have been constructed in vitro around the RDS and the effect of each mutation on transcription has been analysed. Deleting either of the repeats abolishes class II transcription and disruption of both repeats influenced the levels of the larger class I transcripts. Deletion of the spacer had no effect but increasing the length to 33 bp reduced transcription. These results show that the RDS is an important component of the TRP1 promoter, that both repeats must be preserved and that there is some constraint on the spacing of the repeats for maximal function.