Regulation of transcription of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae CYC1 gene: Identification of a DNA region involved in heme control.

A Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutant (hem1 cycl-1) was transformed with plasmids bearing a chromosomal centromer (CEN3) and a 2 μm DNA replication origin. In one of the plasmids a functional CYC1 gene was present, in a second plasmid an XhoI fragment located between bases -245 and -678 upstream from the translation initiation codon had been deleted, in a third plasmid this region had been inverted. Results of hybridization experiments carried out with mRNA isolated from heme-deficient and heme-containing transformants indicated that heme controls transcription of the CYC1 gene and that DNA sequences located within the upstream XhoI fragment are involved in activation of the gene by heme.