Transcriptome reprogramming of key transcription factor deletion strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae compared with the wild type strain by RNA-Seq

Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells have evolved remarkably sophisticated and flexible transcriptional regulatory networks (TRNs) that allow them to survive and thrive in stress conditions, such as high temperature, osmotic and oxidative conditions, etc. Furthermore, transcription factor plays a central role in transcriptional regulatory networks of stress response. To achieve a thorough understanding of master transcription factors and transcriptional regulatory networks in specific response to prolonged thermal stress, we sequenced mRNA from the cultures of the wild type strain ScY01a as well as four key transcription factor deletion strains including ScY01a (ric1∆), ScY01a (srb2∆), ScY01a (sin3∆) and ScY01a (mig1∆) grown at 40ºC in biological duplicates. Differences in gene expression comparing the transcription factor deletion strains with the wild type strain by RNA deep sequencing revealed a hierarchical transcriptional regulatory network required for long-term thermal stress tolerance of S. cerevisiae, which is centered on these four transcription factors.