Sfp1 regulates yeast cell growth and division through multiple promoter binding modes. Sfp1 regulates yeast cell growth and division through multiple promoter binding modes

Understanding how transcriptional programs help to coordinate cell growth and division is an important unresolved problem. Here we report that the nutrient- and stress-regulated transcription factor Sfp1 is rate-limiting for expression of a large suite of genes involved in yeast cell growth, including ribosomal protein, ribosome biogenesis, and snoRNA genes. Remarkably, the spectrum of Sfp1 transcription effects is concordant with a combination of chromatin immunoprecipitation and chromatin endogenous cleavage binding analyses, which together provide evidence for two distinct modes of Sfp1 promoter binding, one requiring a co-factor and the other a specific DNA-recognition motif. In addition to growth-related genes, Sfp1 binds to and regulates the promoters of key G1/S regulon genes and that of MRS6, whose product regulates Sfp1 nuclear localization. Our findings suggest that Sfp1 acts as a master regulator of cell growth and cell size by coordinating the expression of genes implicated in mass accumulation and cell division. Overall design: Sfp1 occupancy as well as RNA Polymerase II binding was measured upon nuclear depletion or overexpression of Sfp1