A FISSION YEAST GENE-MAPPING CLOSE TO SUC1 ENCODES A PROTEIN CONTAINING 2 BROMODOMAINS

A novel gene, brd1, has been cloned from the fission yeast Schizosacch aromyces pombe. The predicted brd1 product contains two copies of an i mperfect repeat of 96 amino acid residues in its N-terminal half. Thes e each include a region with high homology to the bromodomains found i n transcriptional activator proteins from a diversity of eukaryotes. A n in vivo deletion of the complete brd1 open reading frame is not leth al but cells exhibit thermosensitivity, with reductions in both cell g rowth and stationary phase survival at 36 degrees C, brd1 maps adjacen t to the gene suc1, but is expressed separately to give a low abundanc e 2.1 kb mRNA.