CDC14 of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Cloning, sequence analysis, and transcription during the cell cycle

We have cloned, mapped and sequenced the complete CDC14 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and characterized its transcription during the cell cycle. CDC14 was found within a 3.5-kilobase pair XhoI-XbaI fragment of chromosome VI. The DNA sequence reveals an open reading frame capable of encoding a 423-amino acid polypeptide. Protein sequence comparisons through the Prosite, GenBank and EMBL databases allowed us to identify a conserved protein tyrosine phosphatase active site in the encoded CDC14 protein beginning at amino acid 153. Disruption demonstrates that CDC14 is an essential gene. The level of the CDC14 transcript appears to be weakly cell cycle-regulated and has a periodicity which lags approximately 15 min behind histone HTB1 mRNA accumulation levels. DNA sequence analysis has identified a region within the CDC14 promoter which bears a striking resemblance (15 out of 21 base pairs identity) to the cell cycle regulation region of the promoter of the histone H2A1-H2B1 (HTA1-HTB1) gene pair. The cell cycle regulation sequence is responsible for the periodic accumulation and hydroxyurea sensitivity of the histone HTA1-HTB1 message. However, unlike histone mRNA, which is repressed upon hydroxyurea arrest, CDC14 mRNA appears to be unaffected. This suggests that CDC14 and histone genes are regulated by different mechanisms during the cell cycle. Furthermore, superhelical density measurements suggest that CDC14 is not involved in nucleosome assembly.