title: Cloning, sequence and expression of a beta-tubulin-encoding gene in the homobasidiomycete Schizophyllum commune.
abstract: The beta-tubulin (beta Tub)-encoding gene (tub-2) of Schizophyllum commune is the first tubulin gene isolated, cloned and sequenced from higher filamentous fungi (homobasidiomycetes). The S. commune tub-2 gene is organized into nine exons and eight introns. The introns vary from 48 to 107 nt in length, and are distributed throughout the gene. The tub-2 exons code for a protein of 445 amino acids (aa), which shows great homology with beta Tubs of filamentous ascomycetes, plants, and animals, but less homology with yeasts. The codon usage of tub-2 from S. commune is biased, as it is in most beta Tub-encoding genes of filamentous fungi. The S. commune beta Tub shows a conserved aa sequence in the C-terminal domain, which is suggested to interact with microtubule-associated proteins in animals. In contrast, the S. commune beta Tub deviates from most known beta Tubs by having a Cys165 residue, which might be significant for the insensitivity of S. commune haploid strains to the antimicrotubule drug, benomyl. In tub-2 of different haploid strains, sequence polymorphisms occur in the 5' and 3' flanking regions. The expression of tub-2 is high in young mycelium, which has a high number of extending apical cells, but decreases with the aging of the mycelium. No significant difference in the hybridization signal intensity for the tub-2 transcripts was recorded either during intercellular nuclear migration at early mating, or in mycelia with a mutation in the B mating-type gene.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany, University of Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Russo
authors.forename: J T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Juuti
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Raudaskoski
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D003062:Codon; D004271:DNA, Fungal; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012567:Schizophyllum / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014404:Tubulin / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D003062:Codon; D004271:DNA, Fungal; D014404:Tubulin