The fluffy gene of Neurospora crassa encodes a C6 zinc cluster protein that is sufficient for induction of conidiation and necessary for conidiophore development /
Neurospora crassa is a filamentous fungus that has been utilized as a molecular model for understanding the biochemistry and genetics of eukaryotic organisms. N crassa can be induced to reproduce sexually and asexually by numerous environmental stimuli including carbon starvation, nitrogen limitatio...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Thesis Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
[Place of publication not identified] :
[publisher not identified] ;
1999.
|
| Subjects: |
| Summary: | Neurospora crassa is a filamentous fungus that has been utilized as a molecular model for understanding the biochemistry and genetics of eukaryotic organisms. N crassa can be induced to reproduce sexually and asexually by numerous environmental stimuli including carbon starvation, nitrogen limitation, and desiccation. Sexual reproduction leads to the production of ascospores, and asexual reproduction leads to the production of macroconidia or microconidia. The production of macroconidia provides the fungus with a means to disperse itself throughout the environment. Functional copies of the fluffy (fl), acontidiate-2 (acon-2), aconidiate-3 (acon-3), fluffyoid (fld), conidial separation-1 (scp-1) and conidial separation-2 (csp-2) genes are required for the production of mature conidia. The isolation and characterization of the fluffy gene is the focus of the research presented here. Sequence analysis of the cloned fl gene revealed that; encodes a C6 zinc cluster protein. During development, fl is transiently induced, and elevated levels are localized to the developing aerial hydrae, Induced levels are observed in the acon-3 and fld strains, but fl is not induced in the acon-2 and fl[] strains indicating that combinations of the products of fl, acon-2, and acon-3 could control the expression of condonation specific genes during development. In a wild-type background, expression of fl is sufficient to induce condonation in vegetative hyphae that normally do not produce conidia under these conditions. Elevated levels of fl in acon-2 and acon-3 strains can induce condonation when these strains are exposed to air and/or limited in nutrients. The data presented here demonstrates that FL is one of the key regulators of macroconidiation that is sufficient to induce confutation and necessary for conidiophore development. |
|---|---|
| Item Description: | Vita. In title numerals are used. "Major Subject: Genetics". |
| Physical Description: | ix, 104 leaves : illustrations ; 28 cm. Issued also on microfiche from University Microfilm Inc. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (leaves 90-92). |