FC0026
Gal4 transcription factor  -  Basic transcriptional machinery

Biological function
Gal4 is a transcriptional activator of genes required for galactose metabolism in yeast.

Structural evidence
Resistance to crystallization and susceptibility to proteolysis.

Biochemical evidence
A significant portion of the Gal4 transactivation domain could be deleted without diminishing function. Two short activating regions (148-196, 768-881) were identified, which could be fused to the DNA binding domain could activate transcription. Fusing acidic random polypeptides to the Gal4 DNA-binding domain could also induce moderate transcription. The internal, linker region of the transactivation domain has a few fold effect on activity.

Mechanism category
tethering

Significance
Fuzziness enables sequence independence. Similarly, several activation domains require small sequences for function (SV40).

Further reading
3028647