Genomic Binding Profiling of the Fission Yeast Stress-Activated MAPK Sty1 and the bZIP Transcriptional Activator Atf1 in Response to H2O2

Background: The evolutionally conserved MAPK Sty1 and bZIP transcriptional activator Atf1 are known to play a pivotal role in response to the reactive oxygen species in S. pombe. However, it is unclear whether all of the H2O2-induced genes are directly regulated by the Sty1-Atf1 pathway and involved in growth fitness under H2O2-induced stress conditions. Methodology/Principal Findings: Here we present the study on ChIP-chip mapping of the genomic binding sites for Sty1, Atf1, and the Atf1's binding partner Pcr1; the genome-wide transcriptional profiling of the atf1 Delta and pcr1 Delta strains in response to H2O2; and the phenotypic assessment of similar to 90 Atf1/Pcr1-bound or unbound genes for growth fitness under H2O2 conditions. ChIP-chip analysis shows that Atf1 and Pcr1 binding sites are overlapped in the genome and constitutively present before H2O2 stress. On the other hand, Sty1 recruitment primarily occurs at the Atf1/Pcr1 binding sites and is induced by H2O2. We found that Atf1/Pcr1 is clearly responsible for the high-level transcriptional response to H2O2. Furthermore, phenotypic assessment indicates that among the H2O2-induced genes, Atf1/Pcr1-bound genes exhibit a higher likelihood of functional requirement for growth fitness under the stress condition than the Atf1/Pcr1-unbound genes do. Notably, we found that the Atf1/Pcr1-bound genes regardless of their responsiveness to H2O2 show a high probability of requirement for growth fitness. Conclusion/Significance: Together, our analyses on global mapping of protein binding sites, genome-wide transcriptional profiling, and phenotypic assessment provide insight into mechanisms for global transcriptional regulation by the Sty1-Atf1 pathway in response to H2O2-induced reactive oxygen species.