CAN1, a gene encoding a permease for basic amino acids in Candida albicans

The first gene coding for an amino-acid permease of Candida albicans was sequenced. The DNA fragment complementing the lysine-permease deficiency was 3385 bp long. An open reading frame of 1713 nucleotides was found encoding a protein of 571 amino acids, with a calculated molecular weight of 63,343. Analysis of the deduced primary structure revealed ten membrane spanning regions and three potential N-glycosylation sites. The protein sequence is strongly homologous to both permeases for basic amino acids (Can1 and Lyp1) of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. C-terminal part of another ORF (105 aa), highly homologous to the gene HAL2 of S. cerevisiae, was found 133 bp downstream, and in tail-to-tail orientation to the permease gene.