Isolation of a carbon source-regulated gene from Ustilago maydis

We have isolated a carbon source-regulated gene from the phytopathogenic fungus Ustilago maydis by use of a promoter-probe vector. This gene, called crg1, is strongly induced by L-arabinose and efficiently repressed by D-glucose and D-xylose. The predicted 36.5-kDa mature crg1 gene product lacks similarity to known proteins but is likely to be secreted. Sequences required for regulated expression of a reporter gene are contained within a 3.6-kb fragment upstream of the crg1 gene. The promoter of crg1 fulfils requirements for an efficient controllable gene expression system in U. maydis