The HIR4-1 mutation defines a new class of histone regulatory genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Both activation and repression have been implicated in the cell cycle-regulated transcription of the histone HTA1-HTB1 locus in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Transcriptional repressors have been identified through the isolation of recessive mutations in the HIR1, HIR2 and HIR3 genes. These three regulatory genes encode proteins that act at a negative site in the HTA1-HTB1 promoter, and their inactivation results in cell cycle-independent transcription. We report here on the characterization of a fourth HIR mutant. The HIR4-1 mutation is dominant, and the phenotypes that it confers suggest that the mutant gene encodes an altered transcriptional activator. The function of this activator is very specific: it uniquely regulates transcription of the HTA1-HTB1 locus, and it may antagonize repressors that act through the HTA1-HTB1 negative site.