FAR1 is located in the genome of Saccharomyces cerevisiae commonly known as baker's or budding yeast (SGD, 2001; http://genome-www.stanford.edu/Saccharomyces/).  This gene is situated on chromosome X and is called such because it is a "Factor ARrest" gene (YPD, 2001; http://www.proteome.com/databases/YPD/reports/FAR1.html).
            FAR1 is a cyclin-dependent protein kinase inhibitor involved in cell-cycle arrest (SGD, 2001; http://genome-www4.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/SGD/locus.pl?locus=FAR1).  This arrest in the G1 phase is important because it allows for cell-cycle synchronization between two haploid cells with opposite mating types.  The cell-cycle arrest begins with the secretion of peptide pheromones a and alpha by haploid yeast cells.  This secretion induces conjugation between cells of opposite mating types along with morphological changes within the cells when the pheromones bind to their receptors.  This binding initiates a signal transduction pathway since the receptor is coupled with a heterotrimeric guanosine triphosphate-binding protein (G protein) in both haploid yeast cells.  A mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase cascade is stimulated and Cdc28 protein kinase is inactivated (Leeuw et al. 1210).  The cell cycle is halted since Cdc28p is essential for the G1 phase to end and the S phase to begin.  Far1p inactivates the Cdc28 protein kinase of the Cdc28p-Clnp complex.  The transcription of FAR1 is actually induced by the secreted mating pheromone (Peter and Herskowitz 1230).  FAR1 may also play a role in the polarized orientation of growth during mating (Butty et al. 1511).
            A FAR1 mutant has a viable phenotype.  Two substitutions in FAR1 lead to the far1-D1 mutation--glycine 646 and proline 671 are replaced by aspartic acid and leucine, respectively (Figure 3).  This null mutant can still induce the signal transduction pathway as in the wild-type, but is unable to halt the cell-cycle at the G1 phase when exposed to mating pheromone.  Far1-D1 mutant exposure to mating pheromone can also lead to unusual cell morphology.  However when these mutants are not affected by mating pheromone, they have normal cell growth, budding, size, and pheromone production.  A second FAR1 mutant (far1-22p) results from the replacement of serine 87 with proline (Figure 3).  This mutant can induce a G1 arrest in the absence of a mating pheromone by altering the phosphorylation by the Cdc28p-Cln2p kinase complex.  There are six other null mutants including FAR1-22,nls1; FAR1-22deltaNES, far1-s, Far1-60F3p, farc1-c, and far1-H7 at the FAR1 locus (YPD, 2001; http://www.proteome.com/databases/YPD/reports/FAR1.html).

Relative Sites
Yeast Proteome Database Protein Report for FAR1-  This site is a wealth of knowledge--it describes FAR1's function, pathway, mutant phenotype, genetic interactions, etc.
SGD- This site provides a summary of FAR1.
Annotated Yeast Gene: CDC28-  A fellow student's web page describing CDC28, a cyclin-dependent kinase.  This page describes the cell cycle and the role of cyclin-dependent kinases.

SGD-Nucleotide Sequence
   1  ATGAGTATTT CAAATTGGAT CACCACTGCG TATTTAATTA CATCAACATC
  51  TTTTCAACCT CTTTATGGGT CATTTTCTGA TGCACTTGGT CGAAGAAACT
 101  GCCTTTTCTT TGCTAATGGG GCTTTTACCA TTGGATGTCT AGCCTGTGGT
 151  TTCTCGAAAA ACATCTACAT GCTTAGTTTT ATGAGAGCAT TGACAGGCAT
 201  AGGAGGTGGT GGCTTGATCA CACTTTCTAC AATCGTAAAT TCAGACGTTA
 251  TTCCAAGTTC GAAAAGAGGA ATTTTTCAAG CGTTTCAGAA TTTACTTTTG
 301  GGATTTGGTG CCATATGTGG AGCGTCTTTC GGTGGCACAA TAGCGTCGAG
 351  CATTGGTTGG AGGTGGTGTT TTCTCATCCA AGTACCCATA TCTGTGATTA
 401  GTTCCATATT AATGAATTAT TATGTACCTA ATCAGAAAGA ATATAATCGT
 451  CAAAATTCTA GCATATTCCA AAATCCCGGA AAAATACTCA GGGACATAGA
 501  TGTTATGGGC TCAATTCTTA TTATAACTGG TCTCACACTA CAGCTTCTTT
 551  ACCTGAGCCT GGGGTGTTCT ACTTCTAAAT TATCATGGAC CAGCCCTTCT
 601  GTGCTACTGC TATTAGTTGG GAGTGTAATA ATCCTCTTAC TGTTCATATT
 651  GCACGAAAGG AAAACAAGTG CTAGAGCGAT TATTCCTATG GAGCTGGTCA
 701  ATTCCTCCTA CAGTGTCGTT GTACTTTCGA TAAGTATACT TGTTGGTTTT
 751  GCCAGCTACG CGTATCTTTT TACTTTACCA TTATTCTTTC AGATTGTACT
 801  TGGAGATTCC ACTGCAAAAG CAGGATTACG TCTTACGATT CCTTCCCTAT
 851  TTACTCCGGT AGGCAGTCTC ATAACAGGAT TTTCCATGAG CAAGTACAAC
 901  TGTCTAAGAT TATTACTCTA CATTGGTATT TCTTTGATGT TTTTGGGTAA
 951  CTTTTTATTC CTGTTTATTG AAAAAACTTC TCCGAACTGG TTGATTGGTC
1001  TATTTTTGAT ACCTGCAAAT CTAGGACAAG GTATCACTTT TCCTACGACC
1051  TTGTTTACTT TCATATTTAT GTTCTCTAAG AGTGACCAAG CTACTGCGAC
1101  ATCAACTTTA TATTTATTCC GTAGTATTGG ATCTGTATGG GGTGTTGCAA
1151  TTTCAGCTGG CGTCATTCAA TTATCTTTCG CAGGTTTATT GCGTAGTAAT
1201  TTGAAAGGTC TACTGGATGA AAACAAGATA AAGAAACTTA TTGTTCAGCT
1251  TAGTGCAAAC TCCTCATATA TTGGATCTTT ACATGGCGAA GTTAAAAACA
1301  CAGTCATAAA GAGTTTTGAT GAGGCAACAA AGAGGGCTCA TCTAATGTCT
1351  ACATTACTCT CTTCATTGGC CCTGATACTC TGCATCCTTA AAGACAATCT
1401  GGCGAAACCT AAAACAAGAA GATAA

Nucleotide BLAST
    species: Saccahromyces cervisiae
    definition: chromosome II reading frame
    locus: SCYBR293W
    E=0.0, excellent match
    nucleotide length: 4160 bp
    accession number: Z36162  Y13134
    gi: 536749
    amino acid sequence: MSISNWITTAYLITSTSFQPLYGSFSDALGRRNCLFFANGAFTI
                     GCLACGFSKNIYMLSFMRALTGIGGGGLITLSTIVNSDVIPSSKRGIFQAFQNLLLGF
                     GAICGASFGGTIASSIGWRWCFLIQVPISVISSILMNYYVPNQKEYNRQNSSIFQNPG
                     KILRDIDVMGSILIITGLTLQLLYLSLGCSTSKLSWTSPSVLLLLVGSVIILLLFILH
                     ERKTSARAIIPMELVNSSYSVVVLSISILVGFASYAYLFTLPLFFQIVLGDSTAKAGL
                     RLTIPSLFTPVGSLITGFSMSKYNCLRLLLYIGISLMFLGNFLFLFIEKTSPNWLIGL
                     FLIPANLGQGITFPTTLFTFIFMFSKSDQATATSTLYLFRSIGSVWGVAISAGVIQLS
                     FAGLLRSNLKGLLDENKIKKLIVQLSANSSYIGSLHGEVKNTVIKSFDEATKRAHLMS
                     TLLSSLALILCILKDNLAKPKTRR

PREDATOR (predicts secondary structure of a protein)
    51.05% random coil
    26.16% alpha-helix
    22.78% extended strand
    The reliability plot did not indicate that this was a correct prediction since very little of it was above 0.8.

Kyte-Doolittle Analysis (predicts whether protein is an integral membrane protein)

    This ORF most likely codes for an integral membrane protein since the hydropathy plot peaks above 2.0.

Conserved Domain

There was only 30.4% alignment with a sugar transporter with an E-value of 1x10^-4.  This must not be a very highly conserved sequence.
 
 

Kyte J, Doolittle RF. 1982. J. Mol. Biol. 157:105-132.
Leeuw T, et al. 1995. Pheromone Response in Yeast: Association of Bem1p with Proteins of the MAP Kinase Cascade and Actin. Science 270:1210-1213.
Peter M, Herskowitz I. 1994. Direct Inhibition of the Yeast Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Cdc28-Cln by Far1. Science 265:1228-1231.
NCBI. BLASTn Results. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/blast/Blast.cgi#536749 Accessed 2001 Sept 30.
NCBI. Conserved Domain Database. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Structure/cdd/wrpsb.cgi Accessed 2001 Sept 30.
PREDATOR. PREDATOR result for UNK_2789840. http://npsa-pbil.ibcp.fr/cgi-bin/npsa_automat.pl?page=/NPSA/npsa-predator.html Accessed 2001
    Sept 30.
SGD. FAR1/YJL157C. http://genome-www4.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/SGD/locus.pl?locus=FAR1 Accessed 2001 Sept 28.
YPD. YPD Protein Report for FAR1. http://www.proteome.com/databases/YPD/reports/FAR1.html Accessed 2001 Sept 28.