Regulation of the pyrimidine salvage pathway by the FUR1 gene product of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the protein encoded by the FUR1 gene is absolutely required for the expression of uracil phosphoribosyl transferase activity. The occurrence of semi-dominant mutations for 5-fluorouracil-(5FU)-resistance at this locus led us to clone and sequence the semi-dominant fur 1–5 allele. A single point mutation, resulting in the substitution of arginine 134 for serine, is responsible for this mutant phenotype. The fur 1–5 allele is transcribed and expressed at the same level as the wild-type allele. But, in contrast with the wild-type, the UPR Tase activity of the fur 1–5 mutant strain is stimulated in vitro by UTP and does not, therefore, correspond to a loss of feedback of UPR Tase activity. We found that uracil, as a free base, induces a significative increase in transcription and UPR Tase activity in a wild-type strain as well as in uracil-overproducing mutants which principally explains the high efficiency of the pyrimidine salvage pathway in S. cerevisiae.