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The Aspergillus niger carbon catabolite repressor encoding gene, creA
M R Drysdale1, S E Kolze, J M Kelly
1Department of Genetics, University of Adelaide, Australia.
Gene
|August 25, 1993
Summary
Researchers compared carbon catabolite repression in Aspergillus species by isolating and analyzing the creA gene. The Aspergillus niger creA gene functions in Aspergillus nidulans, showing high sequence similarity to related genes in yeast.
Area of Science:
- Molecular Biology
- Mycology
- Genetics
Background:
- Carbon catabolite repression is a key regulatory mechanism in fungi.
- Understanding this process in different Aspergillus species can reveal conserved and divergent evolutionary pathways.
Purpose of the Study:
- To perform a comparative analysis of carbon catabolite repression in Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus nidulans.
- To isolate and characterize the creA gene from A. niger and assess its functionality.
Main Methods:
- Gene isolation via cross-hybridization using the cloned A. nidulans creA gene.
- Heterologous complementation in A. nidulans to test A. niger creA gene function.
- Amino acid sequence comparison between fungal and yeast genes.
Main Results:
- The A. niger creA gene was successfully isolated and shown to be functional in A. nidulans.
- High sequence similarity (90% at amino acid level) was observed between A. niger and A. nidulans creA genes.
- Significant similarities were found with Saccharomyces cerevisiae carbon catabolite repression genes MIG1 and RGR1, particularly in zinc-finger regions.
Conclusions:
- The creA gene plays a conserved role in carbon catabolite repression across different fungal species.
- Comparative genomic analysis highlights conserved regulatory mechanisms between Aspergillus and Saccharomyces.
- The findings provide insights into the evolution of gene regulation in fungi.