SUMMARY: The minichromosome maintenance (or MCM) protein family is composed of six related proteins that are conserved in all eukaryotes. They were first identified by genetic screens in yeast and subsequently analyzed in other experimental systems using molecular and biochemical methods. Early data led to the identification of MCMs as central players in the initiation of DNA replication. More recent studies have shown that MCM proteins also function in replication elongation, probably as a DNA helicase. This is consistent with structural analysis showing that the proteins interact together in a heterohexameric ring. However, MCMs are strikingly abundant and far exceed the stoichiometry of replication origins; they are widely distributed on unreplicated chromatin. Analysis ofmcmmutant phenotypes and interactions with other factors have now implicated the MCM proteins in other chromosome transactions including damage response, transcription, and chromatin structure. These experiments indicate that the MCMs are central players in many aspects of genome stability.

The CYC1 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is positively regulated by the HAP2 and HAP3 proteins, which form a heteromeric complex that binds to a CCAAT box in the upstream activation site, UAS2, and which activate transcription in a nonfermentable carbon source. We carried out a genetic analysis to identify additional trans-acting regulatory factors exerting their effects through UAS2. We present the identification and characterization of a new locus, HAP4, which is shown to encode a subunit of the DNA-binding complex at UAS2. In the hap4 mutant, the binding of HAP2 and HAP3 (HAP2/3) is not observed in vitro. The HAP4 gene is regulated transcriptionally by a carbon source, suggesting that it encodes a regulatory subunit of the bound complex. The sequence of HAP4 shows a highly acidic region, which innactivated the protein when deleted. Replacement of this region with the activation domain of GAL4 restored activity, suggesting that it provides the principal activation domain to the bound HAP2/3/4 complex.