Crassa Gene Research Articles

Nucleotide sequence of yeast GDH1 encoding nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate-dependent glutamate dehydrogenase.

The yeast GDH1 gene encodes NADP-dependent glutamate dehydrogenase. This gene was isolated by complementation of an Escherichia coli glutamate auxotroph. NADP-dependent glutamate dehydrogenase was overproduced 6-10-fold in Saccharomyces cerevisiae bearing GDH1 on a multicopy plasmid. The nucleotide sequence of the 1362-base pair coding region and 5' and 3' flanking sequences were determined. Transcription start sites were located by S1 nuclease mapping. Regulation of GDH1 was not maintained when the gene was present on a multicopy plasmid. Protein secondary structure predictions identified a region with potential to form the dinucleotide-binding domain. The amino acid sequences of the yeast and Neurospora crassa enzymes are 63% conserved. Unlike the N. crassa gene, yeast GDH1 has no introns.

Primary structure of the trpC gene from Aspergillus nidulans

We have determined the structure and complete nucleotide sequence of the trifunctional trpC gene from the Ascomycetous fungus Aspergillus nidulans. Results from RNA gel blot analyses showed that this gene encodes two size classes of polyribosomal, poly (A)+RNAs with approximate lengths of 2,400 and 2,600 nucleotides. S1 nuclease protection studies demonstrated that the distribution into the two size classes is due to selection of alternative sites for polyadenylation. The transcription units contain a single open translation reading frame of 2,304 nucleotides. The sequence of this reading frame is approximately 40% divergent from the sequence of the functionally analogous trp-1 gene from Neurospora crassa (Schechtman, M.G. and Yanofsky, C., J. Mol. Appl. Gen. 2:83-99). The predicted amino acid sequence of the A. nidulans trpC polypeptide is also 40% divergent from the predicted amino acid sequence of the N. crassa trp-1 polypeptide. The A. nidulans gene has considerably less bias in codon selection than observed for the N. crassa gene. Discrete regions of DNA homology were also found in similar positions in the 5' and 3' flanking sequences of the Aspergillus and Neurospora genes. Similar regions of homology were not observed in other Aspergillus or Neurospora genes that have been sequenced. Thus, if these evolutionarily conserved sequences act as signals for transcription initiation or polyadenylation, or are involved in gene regulation, their functions are restricted to a subset of protein coding genes in these two closely related fungi.

Construction of a Neurospora crassa gene library in a cosmid vector

Construction of a Neurospora crassa gene library in a cosmid vector

The complete nucleotide sequence of the Neurospora crassa am (NADP-specific glutamate dehydrogenase) gene

The complete nucleotide sequence of a 2.7-kb genomic fragment, containing the Neurospora crassa am [NADP-specific glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH)] gene, has been determined. The transcription initiation and polyadenylation sites have been defined by S1 mapping. There are at least four initiation sites between 35 and 60 bases downstream of a TATAAA sequence. The single polyadenylation site is immediately downstream of a six-nucleotide sequence which is present in the corresponding position in the N. crassa gene ( pl) coding for the imported proteolipid component of mitochondrial ATP synthase [Viebrock et al. Embo J. 1 (1982) 565–571] the initiation sites also show some sequence similarity between am and pl. There are two introns, of 66 and 61 bases respectively; they interrupt sequences that are conserved (highly so in the case of the second intron) between Neurospora and Escherichia coli. As well as showing typical consensus splicing sequences, the two introns show some striking internal similarities to each other. The am gene resembles the pl gene in its strongly selective use of codons (pyrimidines preferred to purines and guanine to adenine in third positions). The coding sequence here reported requires four corrections to be made in the previously published amino acid sequence of Neurospora GDH.