Constitutive expression in Escherichia coli of the Neurospora crassa structural gene encoding the inducible enzyme catabolic dehydroquinase

Abstract

In Neurospora crassa the qa-2 gene, which encodes catabolic dehydroquinase, is under positive control exerted by the inducer quinic acid and an activator protein encoded in the closely linked qa-1 gene. In order to determine if this regulatory mechanism is maintained when the qa-2 gene is cloned on a recombinant plasmid and expressed in Escherichia coli, molecular cloning experiments have been performed using DNA isolated from a qa-1+ (inducible), a qa-1C (constitutive) and two qa-1 (non-inducible) strains of N. crassa. The results demonstrate that the level of expression of the qa-2 gene in E. coli is completely independent of the mutational state of the qa-1 gene. Moreover, the level of expression of the cloned qa-2 gene was unaffected by either an intracellularly produced inducer of catabolic dehydroquinase or by the general procaryotic positive effector, the CAP factor. The weight of evidence thus supports the conclusion that transcription of the N. crassa qa-2 gene in E. coli does not require the qa-1 activator protein and thus is not controlled by the same mecahnism which functions in N. crassa.