title: Isolation of a class IV chitin synthase gene from a zygomycete fungus, Rhizopus oligosporus.
abstract: We found the presence of DNA sequence which shows sequence similarity to the class IV chitin synthase gene (CHS3) of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in the genome of 14 Rhizopus species which belong to zygomycetes. We cloned a gene (chs3), which might correspond to one of these homologous sequences, from Rhizopus oligosporus by low stringency plaque hybridization probed with CHS3. The deduced amino acid sequence of this gene showed highest similarity to the class IV chitin synthase of Neurospora crassa (46.7% identity over 1087 amino acids), showing that this gene encodes a class IV chitin synthase. Northern analysis revealed the differential expression pattern of this gene in the asexual life cycle with highest expression in the early stage of asexual spore formation. This is the first report of the isolation and analysis of a class IV chitin synthase gene from zygomycete fungi.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, University of Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Motoyama
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Horiuchi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ohta
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Yamaguchi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takagi
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D002687:Chitin Synthase / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D015870:Gene Expression; D005800:Genes, Fungal; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012233:Rhizopus / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D005656:Fungal Proteins; D002687:Chitin Synthase