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Updated: Aug 25, 2026

A Toolkit to Enable Hydrocarbon Conversion in Aqueous Environments
Published on: October 2, 2012
A basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor essential for cytochrome p450 induction in response to alkanes in yeast
Setsu Yamagami1, Daisuke Morioka, Ryouichi Fukuda
1Department of Biotechnology, The University of Tokyo, Yayoi 1-1-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8657, Japan.
Abstract:
When the alkane-assimilating yeast Yarrowia lipolytica is cultivated on n-alkanes, it changes cellular metabolism for adaptation by inducing cytochrome p450 and other genes. From a comparative analysis of promoters of alkane-inducible genes, we identified a cis-acting element, ARE1 (alkane responsive element 1), which provides transcription induction in response to n-alkanes. In a genetic selection for mutants that were defective in ARE1-mediated transcription induction in the presence of n-alkanes, we found that the YAS1 (yeast alkane signaling) gene is essential for alkane response. The YAS1 gene encodes a basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) family protein. Loss of Yas1p causes defects in n-alkane-dependent transcription induction of the p450 gene and growth on n-alkanes. Yas1p localizes to nuclei and binds to promoters containing ARE1. Yas1p also binds to its own promoter, and the expression of YAS1 is induced by n-alkanes. These features suggest that Yas1p is a novel transcription factor mediating alkane signaling and that it provides an autoregulatory loop.
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