title: Expression of one-hybrid fusions with Staphylococcus aureus lexA in Candida albicans confirms that Nrg1 is a transcriptional repressor and that Gcn4 is a transcriptional activator.
abstract: In the pathogenic fungus, Candida albicans, Nrg1 down-regulates the expression of morphogenetic genes and is presumed to act as a transcriptional repressor. In contrast, Gcn4 up-regulates amino acid biosynthetic genes and is presumed to be a transcriptional activator. However, these presumptions remain to be tested directly. A classic approach has been to use a one-hybrid assay that exploits the Escherichia coli lexA protein fusions. However in C. albicans, the alternate decoding of CUG as serine prevents the expression of heterologous genes such as lexA, which contain numerous CUG codons. Therefore, we have developed a one-hybrid system, based on the Staphylococcus aureus lexA gene, as a tool for one-hybrid analyses of transcription factors in C. albicans. Using this one-hybrid system we have confirmed directly the positive and negative transcriptional activities of Nrg1 and Gcn4 in C. albicans.
authors.affiliation: Aberdeen Fungal Group, School of Medical Sciences, Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Foresterhill, Aberdeen AB25 2ZD, UK.
authors.forename: Claire L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Russell
authors.forename: Alistair J P
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Brown
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D002176:Candida albicans / Q000235:genetics*; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D015966:Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012097:Repressor Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D020798:Two-Hybrid System Techniques; D000099160:LexA Repressor Protein
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D005656:Fungal Proteins; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases; D015534:Trans-Activators; D000099160:LexA Repressor Protein