The Saccharomyces cerevisiae NPS1 gene, a novel CDC gene which encodes a 160 kDa nuclear protein involved in G2 phase control.

We have cloned the gene NPS1 (nuclear protein of Saccharomyces) which encodes a nuclear protein of mol. wt 156 735 Daltons (1359 amino acids) essential for cell growth. NPS1 contains a 2 kb sequence that is highly homologous to the S. cerevisiae SNF2/GAM1 gene known as a transcriptional regulator for multiple genes. However, the NPS1 gene was found to have a distinct function from SNF2/GAM1. The growth of the cells carrying a nps1 delta :: URA3 deletion allele and galactose-inducible NPS1 on a plasmid was arrested under NPS1-repressed conditions with a cell cycle arrest phenotype, being arrested at the large-bud stage with a single nucleus that had a DNA content of G2/M phase. When the arrested cells were further incubated under NPS1-repressed conditions, re-replication of DNA occurred in some of the arrested cells without passage through mitosis. In the predicted amino acid sequence of NPS1, sequences homologous to the catalytic domain of protein kinases were found. We constructed a mutation which results in the substitution of a highly conserved lysine residue (Lys792) in the presumed ATP-binding site of this kinase-like domain with a glutamic acid codon. The mutant gene failed to rescue the growth defect caused by NPS1 disruption, suggesting that Lys792 is essential for the function of NPS1.