title: Isolation and characterization of a beta-tubulin gene from Candida albicans.
abstract: We report the isolation and nucleotide sequence determination of a beta-tubulin gene (TUB2) from the pathogenic dimorphic fungus Candida albicans. Nucleotide sequence analysis revealed that TUB2 encodes a protein of 449 amino acids (aa) with considerable sequence homology to beta-tubulins isolated from other fungal species. The nucleotide sequence of the C. albicans gene is 70% homologous to that of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae gene. The coding region for the C. albicans beta-tubulin gene is interrupted by two introns. The first intron occurs after the 4th aa and the second intron occurs after the 13th aa. A comparison with other fungal beta-tubulin genes indicates that the intron locations are highly conserved. Codon usage in the C. albicans TUB2 gene is nonrandom, as has been observed for other fungal beta-tubulin genes. The C. albicans TUB2 gene is transcribed to yield a 1.8-kb mRNA species. On the basis of genomic Southern-blot analysis, we conclude that C. albicans most likely possesses a single beta-tubulin gene.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Genetics, Smith Kline and French Laboratories, King of Prussia, PA 19406-0939.
authors.forename: H A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: H S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Allaudeen
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Whitman
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Koltin
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Gorman
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D002176:Candida albicans / Q000235:genetics*; D003062:Codon; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000235:genetics; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D005796:Genes; D005800:Genes, Fungal; D007438:Introns; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D014404:Tubulin / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D003062:Codon; D004271:DNA, Fungal; D005656:Fungal Proteins; D014404:Tubulin