THE SCHIZOSACCHAROMYCES-POMBE SPQM GENE IS A NEW MEMBER OF THE QM TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR FAMILY

The Qm family of proteins, which are found in a wide variety of specie s such as budding yeast, plants and humans, are believed to play a rol e in gene expression. Here, we report the isolation of a gene, spqM, f rom the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, whose deduced amino-a cid sequence shared 71.6 to 61.36% identity with members of the Qm fam ily. The high degree of conservation of the Qm members suggest that th ey were selectively conserved, because of an important biological role .