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Volume 148, Issue 12

Altering the expression of two chitin synthase genes differentially affects the growth and morphology of

The GenBank accession numbers for the , and gene sequences reported in this paper are AY029261, AF410464 and AF429307, respectively.

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Abstract

In , one full-length chitin synthase () and fragments of two other chitin synthases ( and ) were identified. The deduced amino acid sequence of was similar (87% identity) to from , which encodes a class III chitin synthase. The sequence obtained for indicated that it had high similarity to class V chitin synthases. and disruption strains and a strain in which transcription was controlled were constructed using the nitrite reductase () promoter. The strains were examined during hyphal growth by Northern analysis, analysis of the cell-wall composition and growth in the presence of Calcofluor white (CFW). The disrupted strain and the uninduced – strain exhibited hyperbranching, they had a lower level of conidiation than the wild-type and were sensitive to CFW at 50 mg l. When transcription was induced in the strain containing the – construct, the strain displayed wild-type morphology on solid medium and at sub-maximum growth rates but the wild-type morphology was not fully restored during rapid growth in batch cultivation. The disruption strain displayed morphological abnormalities, such as ballooning cells, intrahyphal hyphae and conidial scars. The growth was severely inhibited in the presence of 10 mg CFW l. In none of the constructed strains did the cell-wall composition differ from the wild-type. Northern analysis indicated no change in the transcription of the chitin synthase genes and when expression was altered, and there was no change in the transcription of and when was disrupted.

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  • Accepted:
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  • Published Online:
Keyword(s): cell wall , CFW, Calcofluor white and N-acetylglucosamine
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2002-12-01
2024-04-26
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Altering the expression of two chitin synthase genes differentially affects the growth and morphology of Aspergillus oryzaeThe GenBank accession numbers for the chsB, chsC and chsA gene sequences reported in this paper are AY029261, AF410464 and AF429307, respectively.
Microbiology 148, 4025 (2002); https://doi.org/10.1099/00221287-148-12-4025
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-148-12-4025
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-148-12-4025
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