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. 1990 Oct;10(10):5064–5070. doi: 10.1128/mcb.10.10.5064

Cloning, sequence, and photoregulation of al-1, a carotenoid biosynthetic gene of Neurospora crassa.

T J Schmidhauser 1, F R Lauter 1, V E Russo 1, C Yanofsky 1
PMCID: PMC361171  PMID: 2144609

Abstract

Carotenoid biosynthesis is regulated by blue light during growth of Neurospora crassa mycelia. We have cloned the al-1 gene of N. crassa encoding the carotenoid-biosynthetic enzyme phytoene dehydrogenase and present an analysis of its structure and regulation. The gene encodes a 595-residue polypeptide that shows homology to two procaryotic carotenoid dehydrogenases. RNA measurements showed that the level of al-1 mRNA increased over 70-fold in photoinduced mycelia. Transcription run-on studies indicated that the al-1 gene was regulated at the level of initiation of transcription in response to photoinduction. The photoinduced increase of al-1 mRNA levels was not observed in two Neurospora mutants defective in all physiological photoresponses. Analysis of cosmid containing al-1 and of a translocation strain with a breakpoint within al-1 indicated that al-1 transcription proceeds towards the centromere of linkage group I of N. crassa.

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Selected References

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