Transcription factor; required for flocculation, diploid filamentous growth, and haploid invasive growth; forms a heterodimer with Mss1p that interacts with the Swi/Snf complex during transcriptional activation of FLO1, FLO11, and STA1; S. cerevisiae genome reference strain S288C contains an internal in-frame stop at codon 142, which in other strains encodes tryptophan