The human c-fos serum response factor and the yeast factors GRM/PRTF have related DNA-binding specificities

One of the elements that mediates growth factor and serum inducibility of the human c-fos gene is a region of dyad symmetry that lies between nucleotides -320 and -299 of the human gene. A mammalian protein specifically binds to this sequence element and has been termed the serum response factor (SRF). Gel-shift analysis and competition experiments demonstrate that there is a factor in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae that binds specifically to the human c-fos SRE. The methylation interference pattern of the yeast factor is identical to that of the mammalian SRF. Regulatory elements of cell-type-specific genes in yeast have homologies to the c-fos SRE and complete for binding of both the mammalian and yeast factors to the SRE. Antisera to the gene product of the MCM1 locus react with the yeast SRE-binding factor. These data suggest that this yeast protein is closely related or identical to the factors [general regulator of mating type (GRM) and pheromone/receptor transcription factor (PRTF)] that are required for the regulation of cell-type-specific genes in yeast.