Kar4 acts as a Ste12 regulator in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, promoting Ste12 binding to a specific DNA motif genome-wide [RNA-seq]

Kar4 is a putative transcription factor essential for mating in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Kar4 has been shown to function with Ste12, the master transcriptional regulator of the yeast mating pheromone response, to promote the transcription of a subset of Ste12 targets required for efficient mating. However, the mechanism by which Kar4 modulates Ste12 activity has remained uncertain. Here, we examine the effect of Kar4 on the mating pheromone response at the levels of transcription (RNA-seq) Overall design: RNA-seq samples were prepared from synchronized cell cultures of the VM05 MATa strain carrying deletions in either KAR4 (ACY01) or STE12 (ACY02). Generally, each strain was pelleted for total RNA extraction after synchronization (time point = 0 hours) or treated with alpha-factor for 60 minutes before RNA sample preparation, except for the "VM" samples, where the control was a timepoint of 60 minutes (without alpha factor)