title: Structure and function of a mating-type gene from the homothallic species Neurospora africana.
abstract: The homothallic Neurospora species, N. africana, contains sequences that hybridize to the A but not to a mating-type sequences of the heterothallic species N. crassa. In this study, the N. africana mating-type gene, mt A-1, was cloned, sequenced and its function analyzed in N. crassa. Although N. africana does not mate in a heterothallic manner, its mt A-1 gene functions as a mating activator in N. crassa. In addition, the N. africana mt A-1 gene confers mating type-associated vegetative incompatibility in N. crassa. DNA sequence analysis shows that the N. africana mt A-1 open reading frame (ORF) is 93% identical to that of N. crassa mt A-1. The mt A-1 ORF of N. africana contains no stop codons and was detected as a cDNA which is processed in a similar manner to mt A-1 of N. crassa. By DNA blot and orthogonal field agarose gel electrophoretic analysis, it is shown that the composition and location of the mating-type locus and the organization of the mating-type chromosome of N. africana are similar to that of N. crassa.
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany and Biotechnology Laboratory, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
authors.forename: N L
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Glass
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D002459:Cell Fusion; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D005800:Genes, Fungal / Q000235:genetics*; D049770:Genes, Mating Type, Fungal; D007438:Introns / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009491:Neurospora / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D009492:Neurospora crassa / Q000235:genetics; D012326:RNA Splicing; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis; D012098:Reproduction / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013045:Species Specificity; D014170:Transformation, Genetic
chemical_list: D012333:RNA, Messenger