Mating signals control expression of mutations resulting from insertion of a transposable repetitive element adjacent to diverse yeast genes

ROAM mutations cause overproduction in S. cerevisiae. Overproduction of ROAm mutant gene products is less in MATa/MATα diploid strains which cannot conjugate than in haploid strains which can. Overproduction occurs in diploid strains capable of mating whether or not they are capable of sporulating. Overproduction decreases when haploid ROAM mutants also contain the ste7 mutation which prevents conjugation; other ste mutations do not affect the expression of ROAM mutations. Cloning of the ROAM mutant gene CYC7-H2 shows that a 5.5 kb sequence homologous to a transposable and reiterated Ty1 element is inserted in the 5′ noncoding region of the CYC7 structural locus. The similar genetic properties of other ROAM mutations suggest that they each contain an inserted Ty element. These results also suggest that ROAM mutations respond to signals normally directed toward genes controlling conjugation functions, and that sequences present in Ty elements may be adjacent to structural loci and are the normal receptors for these signals.