Fig. 2.

Regulation of STE12-like genes by alternative splicing. STE12-like genes from filamentous fungi display a conserved intron-exon organization at the 3′ ends of their coding sequences. This part encodes two zinc finger domains (red and green circles). In the plant pathogens C. lindemuthianum and B. cinerea, an alternative splicing event corresponding to exon skipping has been identified. This results in the production of a protein with only one new zinc finger displaying an inhibitory effect on pathogenesis when overexpressed in wild-type strains (45, 51). HD, homeodomain; Zn, zinc finger.