Mode of expression of the positive regulatory genes PHO2 and PHO4 of the phosphatase regulon in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The mode of expression was investigated for two positive regulatory genes, PHO2 and PHO4, whose products are indispensable for the transcriptional control of the structural genes of repressible acid phosphatase and the inorganic phosphate (Pi) transport system in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Northern analysis of poly(A)+ RNA of the wildtype and the pho regulatory mutants with PHO4 DNA as hybridization probe and expressional analysis of a pho4'-'lacZ fused gene on a YEp plasmid revealed that PHO4 is expressed at a low level, constitutively, and independently of the PHO regulatory system and Pi in the medium. Similar analyses with PHO2 DNA indicated that PHO2 is expressed at an even lower level than PHO4, and is repressed by Pi and by the active PHO2 product, possibly at the translational level, while retaining a substantial level of basal activity.