Cloning and characterization of the ornithine carbamoyltransferase gene from Aspergillus nidulans

An Aspergillus nidulans DNA fragment composed of two adjacent SalI subfragments (1.8 and 0.85 kb) that carries an argB gene complementing the yeast arg3 mutation has been isolated from two different gene libraries. Hybridization results and immunological tests indicate that the cloned fragment contains the A. nidulans structural gene coding for ornithine carbamoyltransferase (OTCase). Using the cloned gene as a probe, the specific mRNA was identified. The level of this RNA observed in A. nidulans strains grown under various conditions correlated with the level of the OTCase activity, suggesting transcriptional control of OTCase synthesis. Expression of the cloned gene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae does not depend on its orientation in the vector. In Escherichia coli, the cloned gene does not function; however arg- transformants revert to prototrophy with high frequency possibly due to DNA rearrangements within the recombinant plasmid.