Evidence that more than one gene encodes n-alkane-inducible cytochrome P-450s in Candida maltosa, found by two-step gene disruption.

An n-alkane-assimilating yeast, Candida maltosa, has a diploid genome. Probed with the previously isolated gene of n-alkane-inducible cytochrome P-450 (P-450alk), its allelic gene had been isolated, its nucleotides sequenced, and the interallelic divergence examined. Using one of the allelic genes, we disrupted the two alleles of the cytochrome P-450alk gene by a two-step gene disruption system. Surprisingly, the disruptant still assimilated n-alkane and contained n-alkane-inducible cytochrome P-450. This result indicates that, other than the disrupted two alleles, there is at least one other gene that encodes an n-alkane-inducible cytochrome P-450.