title: Candida albicans ALS3 and insights into the nature of the ALS gene family.
abstract: The ALS1 (agglutinin-like sequence) gene of Candida albicans encodes a protein similar to alpha-agglutinin, a cell-surface adhesion glycoprotein of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Hoyer et al. 1995). A central domain of a tandemly repeated 108-bp sequence is found in the ALS1 coding region. This tandem-repeat motif hybridizes to multiple C. albicans genomic DNA fragments, indicating the possibility of other ALS1-like genes in C. albicans (Hoyer et al. 1995). To determine if these fragments constitute a gene family, tandem-repeat-hybridizing genomic fragments were isolated from a fosmid library by PCR screening using primers based on the consensus tandem-repeat sequence of ALS1 (Hoyer et al. 1995). One group of fosmids, designated ALS3, encodes a gene with 81% identity to ALS1. The sequences of ALS1 and ALS3 are most conserved in the tandem-repeat domain and in the region 5' of the tandem repeats. Northern-blot analysis using unique probes from the 3' end of each gene demonstrated that ALS1 expression varies, depending on which C. albicans strain is examined, and that ALS3 is hyphal-specific. Both genes are found in a variety of C. albicans and C. stellatoidea strains examined. The predicted Als1p and Als3p exhibit features suggesting that both are cell-surface glycoproteins. Southern blots probed with conserved sequences from the region 5' of the tandem repeats suggest that other ALS-like sequences are present in the C. albicans genome and that the ALS family may be larger than originally estimated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2522 VMBSB, 2001 S. Lincoln Avenue, Urbana, IL 61802, USA. lhoyer@uiuc.edu
authors.forename: L L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Hoyer
authors.forename: T L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Payne
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bell
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Myers
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Scherer
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D002176:Candida albicans / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D015966:Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal; D005800:Genes, Fungal / Q000235:genetics*; D015698:Genomic Library; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family / Q000235:genetics*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014158:Transcription, Genetic / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: C093538:ALS1 protein, Candida albicans; C113620:ALS3 protein, Candida albicans; D004271:DNA, Fungal; D005656:Fungal Proteins