The identification and high level expression of a protein encoded by the yeast Ty element.

Transcription of the yeast Ty element, Ty1 -15, was placed under the control of the efficient PGK promoter on the yeast expression vector, pMA91 . In extracts of yeast transformants containing these constructions a new 52 K basic polypeptide was detected by one- and two-dimensional electrophoresis and was shown, by hybrid arrested translation, to be specifically encoded by the Ty element. The protein coding region was mapped to the first 1.45 kb of the transcribed region of Ty1 -15. These data show for the first time that Ty elements encode proteins and illustrate the general usefulness of high efficiency expression vectors for the detection of rare products.