Pheromonal regulation and sequence of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae SST2 gene: a model for desensitization to...

Strains of both haploid mating types containing sst2 mutations are altered in response to pheromone; MATa sst2 cells are supersensitive to alpha-factor, and MAT alpha sst2 cells are supersensitive to a-factor. This phenotype suggests that SST2 encodes a component of the pheromone response pathway that is common to both mating types. We have cloned the SST2 gene by isolation of multicopy plasmids that complement the sst2-1 mutation. One such plasmid contained a 4.5-kilobase HindIII fragment that was able to complement the sst2-1 mutation in high or low copy number, integrated at the SST2 locus, and resulted in an sst2 phenotype when disrupted, indicating that this fragment contained the SST2 gene. We identified the functional region of the complementing DNA fragment by transposon mutagenesis. Sequencing of this fragment identified an open reading frame encoding 698 amino acids at a position that correlated well with the functional region. Expression of an Sst2-beta-galactosidase fusion was haploid specific and induced by exposure to pheromone. We discuss a model in which induction of the SST2 product results in inhibition of a component of the pheromone response pathway, resulting in desensitization to pheromone.