A fission yeast gene mapping close to suc1 encodes a protein containing two bromodomains

A novel gene, brd1, has been cloned from the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. The predicted brd1 product contains two copies of an imperfect repeat of 96 amino acid residues in its N-terminal half. These each include a region with high homology to the bromodomains found in transcriptional activator proteins from a diversity of eukaryotes. An in vivo deletion of the complete brd1 open reading frame is not lethal but cells exhibit thermosensitivity, with reductions in both cell growth and stationary phase survival at 36 degrees C. brd1 maps adjacent to the gene suc1, but is expressed separately to give a low abundance 2.1 kb mRNA.