Cloning of the gene encoding the yeast protein BTF1Y, which can substitute for the human TATA box-binding factor.

An activity (designated BTF1Y) in extracts of Saccharomyces cerevisiae can substitute for the human TATA box-binding factor BTF1 in a reconstituted transcription system containing the adenovirus 2 major late promoter, RNA polymerase B (II), and the basic transcription factors BTF2, BTF3, and STF. We have purified BTF1Y to homogeneity, using as assays reconstitution of in vitro transcription and DNase I footprinting on the TATA element. Both activities copurified with a 27-kDa polypeptide as determined by SDS/PAGE. Gel filtration indicated a molecular mass of 28 +/- 5 kDa under nondenaturing conditions, suggesting that the native BTF1Y protein is a monomer. BTF1Y was enzymatically cleaved, several peptides were sequenced, and appropriate oligonucleotide probes were synthesized to clone the BTF1Y gene from a yeast genomic library. The BTF1Y gene contains a 720-base-pair open reading frame encoding a protein of 27,003 Da. The recombinant protein expressed in HeLa cells exhibited the same chromatographic characteristics and in vitro transcriptional activity as BTF1Y prepared from yeast extracts, confirming the identity of the gene. Gene-disruption experiments indicated that the yeast BTF1Y gene is a single-copy essential gene.