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. 1990 Jul;87(14):5331–5335. doi: 10.1073/pnas.87.14.5331

nit-2, the major positive-acting nitrogen regulatory gene of Neurospora crassa, encodes a sequence-specific DNA-binding protein.

Y H Fu 1, G A Marzluf 1
PMCID: PMC54317  PMID: 2142530

Abstract

The nit-2 major nitrogen regulatory gene of Neurospora crassa turns on the expression of various unlinked structural genes that specify nitrogen-catabolic enzymes under nitrogen-limitation conditions. The nit-2 gene encodes a protein of 1036 amino acid residues with a single zinc finger and a downstream basic region that may make up a DNA-binding domain. The zinc-finger domain of the NIT2 protein was synthesized in two ways to examine its DNA-binding activity with gel-band-mobility shift and DNA-footprint experiments. The NIT2 protein binds to specific DNA recognition elements that are located upstream of nitrogen-regulated structural genes. Each recognition element contains at least two copies of a core sequence whose consensus is TATCTA.

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Selected References

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