Although the archaeal transcription apparatus resembles the eukaryal RNA polymerase II system, many bacterial-like regulators can be found in archaea. Particularly, all archaeal genomes sequenced to date contain genes encoding homologues of Lrp (leucine-responsive regulatory protein). Whereas Lrp-like proteins in bacteria are involved in regulation of amino acid metabolism, their physiological role in archaea is unknown. Although several archaeal Lrp-like proteins have been characterized recently, no target genes apart from their own coding genes have been discovered yet, and no ligands for these regulators have been identified so far. In this study, we show that the Lrp-like protein LysM from Sulfolobus solfataricus is involved in the regulation of lysine and possibly also arginine biosynthesis, encoded by the lys gene cluster. Exogenous lysine is the regulatory signal for lys gene expression and specifically serves as a ligand for LysM by altering its DNA binding affinity. LysM binds directly upstream of the TFB-responsive element of the intrinsically weak lysW promoter, and DNA binding is favored in the absence of lysine, when lysWXJK transcription is maximal. The combined in vivo and in vitro data are most compatible with a model in which the bacterial-like LysM activates the eukarya-like transcriptional machinery. As with transcriptional activation by Escherichia coli Lrp, activation by LysM is apparently dependent on a co-activator, which remains to be identified.Since the discovery of archaea as a distinct domain of life, many studies have focused on archaeal transcription. It has become clear that although archaea resemble bacteria with respect to their cellular and genetic organization, their transcriptional apparatus is fundamentally different from that of bacteria. Their RNA polymerase (RNAP) 1 is much more related to the eukaryal RNAPII system regarding subunit complexity and sequence homology (1). Thus, archaeal RNAP consists of at least 10 subunits in contrast to the five-subunit bacterial RNAP core enzyme. As in eukarya, archaeal transcription initiation is preceded by the binding of the TATA-binding protein (TBP) to a TATA-like sequence called the TATA-box and subsequent binding of transcription factor B (TFB). Archaeal TBP and TFB are highly homologous to the eukaryal TBP and TFIIB, respectively. However, archaeal TBP is not complexed with TBP-associated factors as in eukarya (2), and there is no evidence that archaeal genomes encode TBP-associated factor homologues. The archaeal TATA-box is 8 bp in length and is located ϳ25 bp upstream of the start of transcription. Directly upstream of the TATA-box, a purine-rich sequence is present, called the TFB-responsive element (BRE). The BRE was shown to be an important determinant in directionality of transcription and promoter strength through interaction with a C-terminal helix-turn-helix domain of TFB (3, 4). The TF(II)B-BRE interaction is a conserved feature between archaea and eukarya. Once TBP and TFB are bound to the promoter, RNAP is recruite...