Cloning and functional analysis of heterologous eukaryotic transcription factors in yeast

Abstract

Abstract The study of transcription in yeast has provided many of our current paradigms for understanding the regulation of gene expression in higher organisms. Two things have made this possible: the ease with which, in yeast, one can combine genetic approaches with molecular genetic tools, and a striking evolutionary conservation in transcriptional mechanisms and in the transcription machinery from yeast to mammals. These same two properties make yeast an attractive surrogate organism in which to clone and characterize transcription factors from heterologous eukaryotic species, the subject of this chapter.