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Updated: Jul 27, 2026

Microscopy of Fission Yeast Sexual Lifecycle
Published on: March 9, 2016
The Aalpha6 locus: its relation to mating-type regulation of sexual development in Schizophyllum commune
1Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Vermont, Burlington 05405-0084, USA.
Abstract:
We have isolated and examined the Aalpha6 mating-type locus of Schizophyllum commune as a first step toward resolving a functional difference between this locus and the Aalpha loci previously studied. Our analyses show Aalpha6 to be remarkably similar to the Aalpha loci of known structure. The locus is composed of two, divergently transcribed genes similar in size to known Z and Y genes of the Aalpha loci. We have termed the two genes, Z6 and Y6, on the basis of their demonstrated mating activities and encoded protein motifs. The Z6 gene encodes a homeodomain-related sequence, two acidic regions and a predicted coiled-coil motif. The Y6 gene encodes a homeodomain, predicted coiled-coil motif, two regions with homology to the Abeta locus gene V6, a basic region encoding a putative nuclear localization sequence and a serine-rich region. The Z6 and Y6 proteins share these features with the other known Z and Y proteins, respectively. One of the two amino acid sequences with homology to the AbetaV6 protein has not previously been reported.
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