Scooter, a new active transposon in Schizophyllum commune, has disrupted two genes regulating signal transduction.
Two copies of scooter, a DNA-mediated transposon in the basidiomycetous fungus Schizophyllum commune, were characterized. Scooter is the first transposon isolated from S. commune. Scooter creates 8-bp target site duplications, comparable to members of the hAT superfamily, and has 32-bp terminal inverted repeats. Both copies of scooter are nonautonomous elements capable of movement. Southern blot hybridizations show that scooter-related sequences are present in all S. commune strains tested. Scooter-1 was identified initially as an insertion in the Bbeta2 pheromone receptor gene, bbr2, leading to a partial defect in mating. Scooter-2 spontaneously disrupted a gene to produce the frequently occurring morphological mutant phenotype known as thin. The scooter-2 insert permitted cloning of the disrupted gene, thn1, which encodes a putative regulator of G protein signaling (RGS) protein. Spontaneous insertion of scooter into genes with identifiable mutant phenotypes constitutes the first evidence of active transposition of a DNA-mediated transposon in a basidiomycete.
Fowler
T J
TJ
Microbiology and Molecular Genetics Department, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont 05405, USA. tfowler@zoo.uvm.edu
Mitton
M F
MF
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements / Q000235:genetics*; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000235:genetics; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D005800:Genes, Fungal; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D043563:Receptors, Pheromone; D012098:Reproduction; D012567:Schizophyllum / Q000235:genetics*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics*
C121512:BBR2 protein, Schizophyllum commune; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D004271:DNA, Fungal; D005656:Fungal Proteins; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D043563:Receptors, Pheromone; C419766:Thn1 protein, Schizophyllum commune; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins