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Structure and function of a mating-type gene from the homothallic species Neurospora africana

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Abstract

The homothallic Neurospora species, N. africana, contains sequences that hybridize to the A but not to a mating-type sequences of the heterothallic species N. crassa. In this study, the N. africana mating-type gene, mt A-1, was cloned, sequenced and its function analyzed in N. crassa. Although N. africana does not mate in a heterothallic manner, its mt A-1 gene functions as a mating activator in N. crassa. In addition, the N. africana mt A-1 gene confers mating type-associated vegetative incompatibility in N. crassa. DNA sequence analysis shows that the N. africana mt A-1 open reading frame (ORF) is 93% identical to that of N. crassa mt A-1. The mt A-1 ORF of N. africana contains no stop codons and was detected as a cDNA which is processed in a similar manner to mt A-1 of N. crassa. By DNA blot and orthogonal field agarose gel electrophoretic analysis, it is shown that the composition and location of the mating-type locus and the organization of the mating-type chromosome of N. africana are similar to that of N. crassa.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany and Biotechnology Laboratory, University of British Columbia, V6T 1W5, Vancouver, B.C., Canada

    N. Louise Glass & Myron L. Smith

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  1. N. Louise Glass
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  2. Myron L. Smith
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Communicated by C. A. M. J. J. van den Hondel

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Glass, N.L., Smith, M.L. Structure and function of a mating-type gene from the homothallic species Neurospora africana . Molec. Gen. Genet. 244, 401–409 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00286692

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00286692

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