creA Gene Research Articles

Notes An inversion truncating the creA gene of Aspergillus niduians results in carbon catabolite derepression

The creAd-30 mutation leading to carbon catabolite derepression in Aspergillus nidulans is a pericentric inversion, having one breakpoint within the creA gene on the left arm of chromosome I and the other breakpoint between binG and yA on the right arm. The left-arm breakpoint alters the creA transcript. The likelihood that the inversion truncates creA centrally strengthens a previous proposal that derepression is the phenotype of loss-of-function mutations in creA.

Cloning of the creA gene from Aspergillus nidulans: a gene involved in carbon catabolite repression.

The creA gene from A. nidulans has been cloned by complementation of a non-revertable mutant allele using a genomic library and marker rescue techniques. The rescued sequence was subcloned and a 2.3 kb fragment identified which complements several creA mutant alleles. Northern analyses showed that creA encodes a transcript of approximately 1.8 kb in length and that the levels of this transcript varied by up to two fold depending on the carbon source. Transformants containing more than two extra copies of creA grew as wildtype on a range of carbon sources, but there was evidence for tighter carbon catabolite repression.