The HIS3 gene, found in the ''

Saccharomyces cerevisiae ''Saccharomyces cerevisiae'' () (brewer's yeast or baker's yeast) is a species of yeast (single-celled fungal microorganisms). The species has been instrumental in winemaking, baking, and brewing since ancient times. It is believed to have be ...

'' yeast, encodes a protein called Imidazoleglycerol-phosphate dehydratase which catalyses the sixth step in histidine biosynthesis. It is analogous to hisB in ''Escherichia coli''.

Exploits

Mutations in ''

Escherichia coli ''Escherichia coli'' ( )Wells, J. C. (2000) Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Harlow ngland Pearson Education Ltd. is a gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped, coliform bacterium of the genus '' Escherichia'' that is commonly fo ...

s analogous gene, hisB allows researchers to select only those individuals expressing the HIS3 gene included on a plasmid. The HIS3 gene is coupled to a certain promoter which can only be activated by successful binding of the relevant

transcription factors In molecular biology, a transcription factor (TF) (or sequence-specific DNA-binding factor) is a protein that controls the rate of transcription of genetic information from DNA to messenger RNA, by binding to a specific DNA sequence. The fun ...

. This is used in certain methods of bacterial

two-hybrid screening Two-hybrid screening (originally known as yeast two-hybrid system or Y2H) is a molecular biology technique used to discover protein–protein interactions (PPIs) and DNA-binding protein#Protein–DNA interactions, protein–DNA interactions by t ...

to allow the survival of ''E. coli'' in which a desired protein-DNA or protein-protein interaction is taking place.

References

Saccharomyces cerevisiae genes {{gene-stub