title: Genetics of the tubulin gene families of Physarum.
abstract: The organization of the alpha- and beta-tubulin gene families in Physarum was investigated by Mendelian analysis. Restriction endonuclease-generated DNA fragments homologous to alpha- and beta-tubulin show length polymorphisms that can be used as markers for genetic mapping. Analysis of meiotic assortment among progeny of heterozygotes allowed alpha- and beta-tubulin sequence loci to be defined. There are four unlinked alpha-tubulin sequence loci (altA, altB, altC and altD) and at least three unlinked beta-tubulin sequence loci (betA, betB and betC). The alpha-tubulin loci are not linked to the beta-tubulin loci. --Segregation of tubulin sequence loci with respect to ben mutations that confer resistance to antitubulin benzimidazole drugs was used to investigate whether any members of the alpha- or beta-tubulin gene families are allelic to ben loci. The beta-tubulin sequence locus betB is allelic to the resistance locus benD, the betA locus is probably allelic to benA and the alpha-tubulin sequence locus altC may be allelic to benC. The molecular implications of benzimidazole resistance phenotypes when only one of the expressed beta-tubulin gene family members mutates to drug resistance are discussed in relation to tubulin function.
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes; D005796:Genes; D005800:Genes, Fungal; D008040:Genetic Linkage; D005838:Genotype; D006579:Heterozygote; D008540:Meiosis; D009154:Mutation; D010804:Physarum / Q000235:genetics*; D010957:Plasmids; D014404:Tubulin / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D014404:Tubulin; D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes