In this work we could show that co-expression of MYC and MAX in S. cerevisiae allowed a significant activation of an ICRE-containing reporter gene which normally depends on Ino2/Ino4. However, expression of this gene by Myc/Max clearly remained below the level observed with authentic activators Ino2/Ino4 (26%), explaining why functional complementation of an ino2 ino4 double mutation by synthesizing Myc/Max in yeast was not successful. In general, several reasons can explain this result: (I) Heterologous proteins may be rapidly degraded prior to execution of their function; (II) Nuclear import of heterologous proteins may be insufficient; (III) Transcription factors may fail to bind activating sequences of target genes; (IV) Transcriptional activation domains may be unable to communicate with coactivators of yeast.
Although Myc is an unstable protein in mammalian cells, our results show that both Myc and Max can be efficiently synthesized in yeast. Using multi-copy expression plasmids with the MET25 promoter, abundance of Myc and Max was similar to homologous proteins Ino2 and Ino4. Both Myc and Max contain basic nuclear localization sequences (Kato et al. 1992; Dang and Lee 1988). Since the mechanism of importin- and Ran-dependent nuclear protein import is universally conserved in eukaryotes (Conti and Izaurralde 2001) it is plausible to assume that Myc and Max should be also nuclear in yeast. This assumption agrees with the previous finding that Myc/Max in yeast strongly activate a reporter gene with an authentic binding site (Amati et al. 1992). We thus conclude that Myc/Max and Ino2/Ino4 differ with respect to their binding site specificities.
Mutational analysis of individual positions within the ICRE (consensus: 5´ WYTTCACATG 3´; W = A or T; Y = C or T) clearly showed that T bases at positions 3 and 4 are absolutely required for efficient gene activation (Schüller et al. 1995). In contrast, Myc/Max discriminate against sequences with a T flanking the CACGTG core sequence as it has been shown by selection for binding sites in vitro and reporter gene assays in vivo (consensus binding sequence of Myc/Max: RACCACGTGGTY, Solomon et al. 1993). As is evident from the crystal structure analysis of ICRE-bound Ino2/Ino4, both T residues form hydrogen bonds with oxygen atoms of serine-53 (S53) within the basic region of Ino4 (Khan et al. 2022). At the corresponding position of its basic region, Max contains a leucine residue for which no DNA contacts have been described, explaining why interaction with ICRE sequences is less impactful (cf. Figure 5).
It is generally accepted that the N-terminus of Myc (aa 1-143; Kato et al. 1990) mediates transcriptional activation but different results have been obtained for the precise position of Myc transcriptional activation domains (TADs). Using chinese hamster ovary cells and Gal4-Myc hybrid proteins for their assays, Kato et al. (1990) identified three activating subdomains (aa 1–41, aa 41–103 and aa 103–143) which were considered as TADs while Flinn et al. (2002) used Myc-Pho4 fusions in yeast and mapped aa 1–41 and aa 66–127 as activation domains. Our results with Gal4-Myc fusions assayed in yeast completely agree with the position of TAD1 (aa 1–41) but modify position of TAD2 (aa 91–140). Both TADs defined in this work contain an excess of acidic amino acids and thus exhibit a negative net charge (TAD1: -7; TAD2: -8) together with several phenylalanine residues known to be important for efficient transcriptional activation (Erijman et al. 2020). To correlate experimental data and in silico analysis of N-terminal sequences from Ino2 and Myc, we finally used the bioinformatic tool Adpred developed to predict activation domains by a deep learning strategy based on a comprehensive number of verified TADs (Erijman et al. 2020). As is shown in Fig. 6, this model predicts positions of Myc TADs essentially as mapped in this work. For the core function of TAD1, Myc homology box MB0 (aa 16–33) should be essential while MBI (aa 45–63) may support activation but is not absolutely required. MBI contains residues T58 and S62 which can be phosphorylated by various protein kinases in humans as well as in yeast, thus influencing Myc stability or efficiency of transcriptional activation (Escamilla-Powers and Sears 2007; Hann 2014). The very strong Myc TAD2 should definitely comprise amino acids at least until position 140, thus covering most of Myc box MBII (aa 128–143).
To stimulate initiation of transcription, TADs must transiently interact with general transcription factors (such as TFIID, TFIIA, TFIIH and mediator) finally forming preinitiation complexes (PIC) at basal promoters and also with factors of chromatin modification allowing improved access to DNA for PIC components. Importantly, the N-terminus of Myc binds to the evolutionary conserved coactivator TRRAP (Tra1 in yeast) which functions in two distinct histone acetyltransferase (HAT) complexes, STAGA (SAGA in yeast, Gcn5 as the HAT subunit) and TIP60 (NuA4 in yeast, Esa1 as HAT; McMahon et al. 1998; Frank et al. 2003; Cowling and Cole 2006; interactions are summarized by Tu et al. 2015). Importantly, TRRAP interaction was no longer possible when Myc boxes MB0 and MBII had been deleted while MBI was dispensable for Myc-TRRAP Interaction (Kalkat et al. 2018). Myc also interacts with the TRRAP-independent HAT p300/CBP (no ortholog in yeast; Vervoorts et al. 2003). Consequently, the level of target gene acetylation correlates with Myc-dependent activation. Myc also interacts with the TATA-box binding protein TBP as the core subunit of basal transcription factor TFIID and the TFIIF subunit RAP74 (McEwan et al. 1996; Wei et al. 2019). On the basis of previously identified proteins interacting with TADs of Ino2 (Hintze et al. 2017; Engelhardt et al. 2023; Wendegatz et al. 2024), we here extend the number of Myc coactivators and show that basal transcription factors Taf1, Taf4, Taf6, Taf10, Taf12 and Toa1 as well as subunits of chromatin remodeling complexes SWI/SNF (Swi1, Swi2 ATPase, Snf5 and Snf6), RSC (Sth1 ATPase) and INO80 (Ino80 ATPase) can also bind to TADs of Myc. Kalkat et al. (2018) could show that a Myc variant devoid of MBII is no longer able to interact with Taf6, Taf10 and Taf12 (which are subunits of TFIID and STAGA). Despite variation of binding site preferences and functional diversification, our results provide clear evidence that Ino2 and Myc (as well as Ino4 and Max) should be considered as orthologous activator proteins, contrary to an earlier comment (“there is no ortholog of c-Myc in yeast”; McMahon et al. 2000). This conclusion agrees with the phylogenetic classification of fungal bHLH proteins into group B also containing Myc and Max (Ledent and Vervoort 2001).