Domain structure and functional analysis of the carboxyl-terminal polyacidic sequence of the RAD6 protein of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The RAD6 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which is required for normal tolerance of DNA damage and for sporulation, encodes a 172-residue protein whose 23 carboxyl-terminal residues are almost all acidic. We show that this polyacidic sequence appends to RAD6 protein as a polyanionic tail and that its function in vivo does not require stoichiometry of length. RAD6 protein was purified to near homogeneity from a yeast strain carrying a RAD6 overproducing plasmid. Approximately the first 150 residues of RAD6 protein composed a structural domain that was resistant to proteinase K and had a Stokes radius typical of a globular protein of its calculated mass. The carboxyl-terminal polyacidic sequence was sensitive to proteinase K, and it endowed RAD6 protein with an aberrantly large Stokes radius that indicates an asymmetric shape. We deduce that RAD6 protein is monomeric and comprises a globular domain with a freely extending polyacidic tail. We tested the phenotypic effects of partial or complete deletion of the polyacidic sequence, demonstrating the presence of the shortened proteins in the cell by using antibody to RAD6 protein. Removal of the entire polyacidic sequence severely reduced sporulation but only slightly affected survival after UV irradiation or UV-induced mutagenesis. Strains with deletions of all but the first 4 or 15 residues of the polyacidic sequence were phenotypically almost wild type or wild type, respectively. We conclude that the intrinsic activity of RAD6 protein resides in the globular domain, that the polyacidic sequence has a stimulatory or modifying role evident primarily in sporulation, and that only a short section apparently functions as effectively as the entire polyacidic sequence.