McClelland Carol M, Fu Jianmin, Woodlee Gay L, Seymour Tara S, Wickes Brian L
Department of Microbiology, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, Texas 78229-3900, USA.
Genetics. 2002 Mar;160(3):935-47. doi: 10.1093/genetics/160.3.935.
Cryptococcus neoformans is a heterothallic basidiomycete with two mating types, MATa and MATalpha. The mating pathway of this fungus has a number of conserved genes, including a MATalpha-specific pheromone (MFalpha1). A modified differential display strategy was used to identify a gene encoding the MATa pheromone. The gene, designated MFa1, is 42 amino acids in length and contains a conserved farnesylation motif. MFa1 is present in three linked copies that span a 20-kb fragment of MATa-specific DNA and maps to the MAT-containing chromosome. Transformation studies showed that MFa1 induced filament formation only in MATalpha cells, demonstrating that MFa1 is functionally conserved. Sequence analysis of the predicted Mfa1 and Mfalpha1 proteins revealed that, in contrast to other fungi such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the C. neoformans pheromone genes are structurally and functionally conserved. However, unlike the MFalpha1 gene, which is found in MATalpha strains of both varieties of C. neoformans, MFa1 is specific for the neoformans variety of C. neoformans.
新型隐球菌是一种具有两种交配型（MATa和MATalpha）的异宗配合担子菌。这种真菌的交配途径有许多保守基因，包括一种MATalpha特异性信息素（MFalpha1）。采用改良的差异显示策略来鉴定编码MATa信息素的基因。该基因命名为MFa1，长度为42个氨基酸，包含一个保守的法尼基化基序。MFa1以三个连锁拷贝形式存在，跨越MATa特异性DNA的一个20 kb片段，并定位于含有MAT的染色体上。转化研究表明，MFa1仅在MATalpha细胞中诱导丝状形成，这表明MFa1在功能上是保守的。对预测的Mfa1和Mfalpha1蛋白的序列分析表明，与酿酒酵母等其他真菌不同，新型隐球菌的信息素基因在结构和功能上是保守的。然而，与在两种新型隐球菌的MATalpha菌株中都能找到的MFalpha1基因不同，MFa1是新型隐球菌变种所特有的。
