Summary
Wild-type Neurospora crassa, strain Singapore, was transformed with a N. crassa metallothionein promoter/protyrosinase fusion gene. Transformants produced tyrosinase during vegetative growth, as determined by Western analyses and activity assays. This is in sharp contrast to wild-type strains, where this enzyme is only expressed in situations of starvation or sexual differentiation. Complete integration of a 400 bp metallothionein promoter-fragment leads to constitutive expression of protyrosinase, whereas a 3.6 kb promoter-fragment conferred copper inducibility on the reporter gene in four transformants. A transformant with high constitutive tyrosinase levels was able to produce melanin on complete medium agar plates supplemented with 1 mg/ml L-tyrosine.
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Kupper, U., Linden, M., Cao, K. et al. Expression of tyrosinase in vegetative cultures of Neurospora crassa transformed with a metallothionein promoter/protyrosinase fusion gene. Curr Genet 18, 331–335 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00318214
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00318214