The centromere and promoter factor, 1, CPF1, of Saccharomyces cerevisiae modulates gene activity through a family of factors including SPT21, RPD1 (SIN3), RPD3 and CCR4.

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the CPF1 gene encodes a centromere binding protein that also plays a role in transcription; cpf1 strains are methionine auxotrophs. In this paper we describe four strains that are methionine prototrophs despite containing a defective CPF1 gene. These strains, which contain mutations at either the SPT21, RPD1 (SIN3), RPD3 or CCR4 loci, have defective centromere function and a chromatin structure around the CDEI elements in the MET25 promoter characteristic of strains lacking CPF1. This indicates that the roles of CPF1 in transcription, centromere function and chromatin modulation around CDEI sites are different. We propose that CPF1 functions to overcome the repressing action, mediated via inactive chromatin, of proteins such as SPT21 or RPD1 (SIN3) on gene expression. The absence of proteins such as SPT21 or RPD1 (SIN3) relieves this repression and explains how methionine prototrophy is restored in the absence of CPF1.