Three alpha-amylase genes of Aspergillus oryzae exhibit identical intron-exon organization

We have cloned three genes (amy1, amy2 and amy3) encoding alpha-amylase in the filamentous fungus Aspergillus oryzae. The established overall sequences have a very high degree of homology, showing divergences mainly in the 3'-untranslated regions. The positions and the sequences of the eight introns were found to be absolutely identical in the three genes. The sequence analysis of the 5'-regions revealed presumptive TATA, CAAT and GC boxes. Primer extension analysis was performed to determine the transcription start. We were able to detect mRNAs from amy1 and amy3 but not from amy2 with gene-specific oligonucleotide probes complementary to the 3'-noncoding regions.