Sequence of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae PHR1 gene and homology of the PHR1 photolyase to E. coli photolyase.

The nucleotide sequence of a 2301 base pair region of Saccharomyces cerevisiae DNA containing the PHR1 gene is reported. Within this region a single open reading frame of 1695 base pairs was found; using the insertional inactivation technique it was shown that part or all of this open reading frame specifies the PHR1-encoded photolyase. The amino acid sequence of the 565 amino acid long polypeptide predicted from the PHR1 nucleotide sequence was compared to the amino acid sequence of E. coli photolyase. Overall the sequence homology was 36.5%; however, two short regions near the amino terminus as well as the carboxy-terminal 150 amino acids display significantly greater sequence homology. The presence of these strongly conserved regions suggests that the yeast and E. coli photolyase possess common structural and functional domains involved in substrate and/or chromophore binding.