RAG3 gene and transcriptional regulation of the pyruvate decarboxylase gene in Kluyveromyces lactis

The RAG3 gene has been cloned from a Kluyveromyces lactis genomic library by complementation of the rag3 mutation, which shows impaired fermentative growth on glucose in the presence of respiratory inhibitors. From the nucleotide sequence of the cloned DNA, which contained an open reading frame of 765 codons, the predicted protein is 49.5% identical to the Pdc2 protein of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a regulator of pyruvate decarboxylase in this yeast. Measurement of the pyruvate decarboxylase activity in the original rag3–1 mutant and in the null mutant confirmed that the RAG3 gene is involved in pyruvate decarboxylase synthesis in K. lactis. The effect is exerted at the mRNA level of the pyruvate decarboxylase structural gene KIPDCA. Despite analogies between the RAG3 gene of K. lactis and the PDC2 gene of S. cerevisiae, these genes were unable to reciprocally complement.