Yeast Gal4: a transcriptional paradigm revisited

Abstract

During the past two decades, the yeast Gal4 protein has been used as a model for studying transcriptional activation in eukaryotes. Many of the properties of transcriptional regulation first demonstrated for Gal4 have since been shown to be reiterated in the function of several other eukaryotic transcriptional regulators. Technological advances based on the transcriptional properties of this factor-such as the two-hybrid technology and Gal4-inducible systems for controlled gene expression-have had far-reaching influences in fields beyond transcription. In this review, we provide an updated account of Gal4 function, including data from new technologies that have been recently applied to the study of the GAL network.

Rearrangements of the transcriptional regulatory networks of metabolic pathways in fungi

“…When fed with glucose, yeast cells repress the galactose utilization genes through the action of the transcriptional repressor Mig1 [37,38] but in the presence of galactose and once available glucose is exhausted, genes containing a galactose upstream activating sequence (UAS; CGG(N 11 )CCG) are activated by Gal4; this is probably the most studied and applied gene regulatory switch of S. cerevisiae [38]. The allosteric mechanism of activation of the Gal pathway relies on the co-factor Gal80, which represses Gal4 activity until Gal3 bound to galactose sequesters it in the cytoplasm.…”

“…The allosteric mechanism of activation of the Gal pathway relies on the co-factor Gal80, which represses Gal4 activity until Gal3 bound to galactose sequesters it in the cytoplasm. Gal3 is an enzymatically inactive glucose sensor paralogous to the galactokinase Gal1, and Gal80 is a sensor of the NADP/NADPH balance [38][39][40].…”

A broad expression profile of the GMR-GAL4 driver in Drosophila melanogaster

“…The GAL4/UAS bipartite expression system has been utilized as an extremely powerful tool to ectopically express transgenes in specific patterns in Drosophila melanogaster (Duffy, 2002;Traven et al, 2006). In this system, the yeast transcription factor GAL4 is driven by various promoter sequences, and thus, exhibits many different temporal and spatial expression profiles (Laughon et al, 1984;Brand and Perrimon, 1993).…”

LncRNAs: Bridging environmental sensing and gene expression

“…42,43 In the presence of galactose, the Gal4 transcriptional activator associates with GAL genes and facilitates transcriptional activation by promoting recruitment of co-activators and RNA polymerase II (RNA P II). 44 The third transcriptional state, called the "derepressed" or "non-induced" state, occurs when yeast are grown in the presence of raffinose. In this condition, the GAL genes are neither actively repressed nor are they induced.…”

“…45 This ability to control the transcriptional states by manipulation of carbon sources has made the GAL cluster an exceptional model gene locus for studying transcription initiation, termination, and chromatin remodeling events for decades. 44,46 In addition to regulatory proteins, the GAL cluster also contains 2 lncRNAs, the GAL10 and GAL10s lncRNAs, which originate from a bidirectional promoter within the 3 0 end of the GAL10 open reading frame. 47 The GAL10 lncRNA is transcribed in an antisense orientation with respect to the GAL10 protein-coding gene and overlaps both GAL10 and GAL1, whereas the GAL10s lncRNA is expressed in the opposite orientation and runs through the downstream GAL7 promoter region.…”