In yeast the homologous transcription factors Stp1 and Stp2 are synthesized as latent cytoplasmic precursors with N-terminal regulatory domains. In response to extracellular amino acids the regulatory domains are endoproteolytically excised by the plasma membrane-localized SPS sensor. The processed forms of Stp1 and Stp2 efficiently enter the nucleus and induce expression of amino acid permease genes. We recently reported that the inner nuclear membrane protein Asi1 is required to prevent unprocessed forms of Stp1 and Stp2, which ectopically enter the nucleus, from binding SPS sensor-regulated promoters. Here we show that Asi3, an Asi1 homolog, and Asi2 are integral proteins of the inner nuclear membrane that function in concert with Asi1. In cells lacking any of the three Asi proteins, unprocessed full-length forms of Stp1 and Stp2 constitutively induce SPS sensor-regulated genes. Our results demonstrate that the Asi proteins ensure the fidelity of SPS sensor signaling by maintaining the dormant, or repressed state, of gene expression in the absence of inducing signals. This study documents additional components of a novel mechanism controlling transcription in eukaryotic cells.In eukaryotes the nucleoplasm and cytoplasm are separated by the nuclear envelope. The nuclear envelope consists of two closely aligned bilayers, the inner and outer membranes, each with a unique set of resident proteins. The two nuclear membranes are joined at nuclear pore complexes, which function as channels that provide selective entry and exit routes across the nuclear envelope. Aside from rather detailed knowledge regarding the structure of nuclear pores, there is markedly little known regarding non-pore nuclear proteins (1). However, accumulating data indicate that nuclear envelope proteins participate in a variety of important processes including maintenance of nuclear architecture, chromatin organization, signaling, and gene expression (1-3). Significantly, mutations in genes encoding nuclear envelope proteins are linked to at least 15 inherited human diseases and syndromes (4, 5).In mammalian cells, nuclear lamins are involved in an extensive network of protein-protein interactions, including inner nuclear membrane proteins and transcriptional regulators, some of which bind DNA (3, 6). Although yeast cells lack lamin homologs (7), processes associated with the inner nuclear membrane have been shown to influence patterns of gene expression. For example, although silencing is not obligatorily linked to perinuclear anchoring (8), recruitment of chromatin to the nuclear periphery can facilitate gene repression (9). Evidence obtained using genome-wide approaches suggest that transcriptionally active regions of chromosomes localize to nuclear pore complexes (10, 11). Consistently, a number of actively expressed genes have been found to interact with the nucleoporin Nup2; the interactions occur at the promoter region of genes and appear to correlate with early events of gene expression (12, 13). Together findings in yeast and metazoan...