Originally published as Genetics Published Articles Ahead of Print on September 1, 2006.

Genetics, Vol. 174, 1135-1149, November 2006, Copyright © 2006
doi:10.1534/genetics.106.059873

Chromatin-Modifiying Enzymes Are Essential When the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Morphogenesis Checkpoint Is Constitutively Activated

Myriam Ruault and Lorraine Pillus¹

Division of Biological Sciences, UCSD Moores Cancer Center and Center for Molecular Genetics, University of California, San Diego, California 92093-0347.

¹ Corresponding author: 9500 Gilman Dr., University of California, La Jolla, CA 92093-0347.
E-mail: lpillus{at}ucsd.edu

Hsl7p plays a central role in the morphogenesis checkpoint triggered when yeast bud formation is impaired and is proposed to function as an arginine methyltransferase. HSL7 is also essential in the absence of the N-terminal tails of histones H3 or H4. The requirement for H3 and H4 tails may indicate a need for their post-translational modification to bypass the morphogenesis checkpoint. In support of this, the absence of the acetyltransferases Gcn5p or Esa1p, the deacetylase Rpd3p, or the lysine-methyltransferase Set1p resulted in death or extreme sickness in hsl mutants. These synthetic interactions involved both the activity of the chromatin-modifying enzymes and the complexes through which they act. Newly reported silencing phenotypes of hsl7 mirror those previously reported for gcn5 and rpd3, thereby strengthening their functional links. In addition, synthetic interactions and silencing phenotypes were suppressed by inactivation of the morphogenesis checkpoint, either by SWE1 deletion or by preventing Cdc28p phosphorylation. A catalytically dead Hsl7p retained wild-type interactions, implying that modification of histone H3 or H4 N termini by Gcn5p, Esa1p, Rpd3p, and Set1p, but not by Hsl7p, was needed to bypass the morphogenesis checkpoint.

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