| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
Departamento de Producción Agraria, Universidad Pública de Navarra, E-31006 Pamplona, Spain
| ABSTRACT |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Two fruit body-specific hydrophobins (Fbh1 and POH1) have been identified in two different strains of the edible basidiomycete Pleurotus ostreatus. Comparison of their nucleotide and amino acid sequences yielded similarity values (59% and 66%, respectively) smaller than those found for alleles of the same hydrophobin gene but higher than those found for different hydrophobin genes in P. ostreatus var. florida (Peñas et al 2002
). In this paper, we have addressed the question of Fbh1 and POH1 allelism by studying the structure of the gene fbh1 and by a classical genetic analysis to compare it with that of POH1. The structure of both genes is similar, as revealed by the similarity of their promoters and leader peptide sequences and by the conserved position of their introns. Furthermore, the allelism analysis revealed that both genes segregated as alleles when present in the same hybrid. These results suggest an allelic condition for POH1 and fbh1 and stress the importance of the similarity of fbh1/POH1 promoter and leader sequences. Furthermore, we have identified various microsatellite-like regions in this gene that can be used for strain and species typing in the future.
Key words: allele polymorphism, gene structure, microsatellites
| INTRODUCTION |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Two commercial varieties (florida and ostreatus, differing in size, fruiting temperature, and pileus structure and color) of the white-rot, edible mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus have been used to study fruit body-specific hydrophobins in this species. Peñas et al (1998)
reported the characterization of Fbh1 (Fruit Body Hydrophobin 1) from var. florida, and Asgeirsdóttir et al described POH1 (P. ostreatus Hydrophobin 1) in var. ostreatus (Asgeirsdóttir et al 1998
). Both proteins contain 113 amino acids and have two cysteine clusters spaced as expected for Class I hydrophobins (Kershaw and Talbot 1998
). Expression of fbh1 and POH1 was limited to fruit bodies; their transcripts were absent in monokaryotic or dikaryotic mycelia. However, Peñas et al (2002)
showed that another hydrophobin gene (vmh3), not allelic to fbh1, is expressed in both vegetative mycelium and fruit bodies. The occurrence of various hydrophobins in fruit bodies has been reported in the bracket mushroom S. commune, where SC1, SC3 and SC4 are simultaneously present, albeit at different places (van Wetter et al 2000
), and in the button mushroom Agaricus bisporus, where two hydrophobins (ABH1 and ABH2) are detected in different parts of the mature fruit body (Lugones et al 1996
, de Groot et al 1999
). In this context, the identification of two fruit body-specific hydrophobins in P. ostreatus raises the question whether to consider them as products of duplicate loci, or as alleles of the same locus. This question is more pertinent because sequence similarity at either amino acid (59%) or nucleotide (66%) level between POH1 and Fbh1 is lower than that observed for alleles of a given hydrophobin gene (85.4% and 85.8%) but higher than that observed for different hydrophobin genes (19.6% and 40.8%) in P. ostreatus var. florida (Peñas et al 2002
).
To clarify this question, we show here that gene fbh1 is structurally similar to POH1 (Asgeirsdóttir et al 1998
) but different from other P. ostreatus hydrophobin genes (Peñas et al 2002
) and demonstrate that fbh1 and POH1 behave as allelic by means of a genetic segregation analysis.
| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Molecular techniques
DNA was purified as described by Larraya et al (1999)
. For RFLP analysis, the corresponding DNA was digested, following the recommendations of the enzyme suppliers. Hybridizations were performed at 65 C as described by Church and Gilbert (1984)
. The two fbh1 alleles present in P. ostreatus N001 were PCR-amplified using genomic DNA as template and primers that included the fbh1 start and stop codons (underlined): forward primer 5'-ATGTTCTCCATCCGCATC-3' (positions 118 from fbh1 translation start point), reverse primer 5'-TTAGAGGTTGAGGTTAATG-3' (positions 557 to 539 from fbh1 translation start point) (Peñas et al 1998
). PCR mixes were incubated 5 min at 95 C and subjected to 30 cycles of denaturation (95 C, 1 min), annealing (55 C, 1 min) and extension (72 C, 2 min). The amplified fragments were cloned into a pGEM-T vector (Promega, Madison, Wisconsin). For PCR amplification of the fbh1 promoter region in different P. ostreatus strains, these two primers were designed after the sequence of fbh1-1: forward primer 5'-CAAACCCCGAATCACGTCC-3' (positions -547 to -529 from fbh1 translation start point), reverse primer 5'-CGTCGAGCACAGTTGAGTCC-3' (positions -207 to -226 from fbh1 translation start point). PCR conditions were: PCR mixes were incubated 5 min at 95 C and subjected to 40 cycles of denaturation (95 C, 1 min), annealing (60 C, 1 min) and extension (72 C, 1.5 min). Two hundred ng of template DNA were used per reaction. The protocols described by Sambrook et al (1989)
and Dieffenbach and Dveksler (1995)
were followed for general molecular techniques.
DNA sequence analysis and nucleotide sequence accession number
Sequencing reactions were performed with an ABI Prism BigDye Terminator Kit (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, California). Sequencing electrophoreses were made with ABI Prism 377 equipment. Sequence alignments and similarity search were carried out with programs CLUSTAL W (Thompson et al 1994
), and BLASTN, BLASTX and Pairwise BLAST (Altschul et al 1990
) at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) Website.
The genomic sequences obtained from protoclone PC9 (containing the allele fbh1-1 plus intergenic regions, 3695 bp) and in protoclone PC15 (containing the allele fbh1-2 from the translation start to stop points, 543 bp) have been deposited in the EMBL and GenBank nucleotide sequence databases under accession numbers AJ319663 and AJ416753, respectively.
| RESULTS |
|---|
|
|
|---|
|
|
The G+C content of the 3.7 Kbp sequenced was 55.0%. This value was higher at the coding region, where G+C content rose to 56.9% in introns and 64.3% in exons. A 64-bp AT-rich stretch was found between the putative CAAT and TATA boxes containing 10 nearly identical repetitions of the motif ACTTT (positions -345 to -281 from fbh1 translation start point). The G+C content of this region was reduced concomitantly (21.5%). In the region coding for fbh1, the codon usage was biased: 64% of codons end with a pyrimidine, and 85% of them had a C at this position. In the case of codons ending with a purine, most of them had a G at the third position.
To clone the second fbh1 allele present in P. ostreatus N001 (fbh1-2), PCR amplifications were performed; DNA from protoclones PC9 or PC15 (monokaryons containing each one of the two nuclei present in dikaryon N001) as template and oligonucleotides corresponding to the ends of the translated sequence as primers were used. This amplification strategy would produce a DNA fragment that included exclusively the translated exons and intervening introns; the untranslated upstream and downstream regions as well as the intergenic regions, on the contrary, would not be recovered. Monokaryotic protoclone PC9 bore the allele fbh1-1 described above, whereas protoclone PC15 carried the second allele (fbh1-2), which showed some minor differences with respect to fbh1-1 (Table I). The GC content in the coding and noncoding (introns) regions was identical in both alleles. Sequence similarity between the two fbh1 alleles scored 96% at the nucleotide and 99% at the aminoacid level (data not shown).
Sequence and structure comparison between genes fbh1 and POH1
Fbh1 was isolated from P. ostreatus var. florida. Another fruit-body specific hydrophobin (POH1) independently was isolated from P. ostreatus var. ostreatus (Asgeirsdóttir et al 1998
). To check the level of cross-hybridization between the fbh1 and POH1 cDNAs, a Southern blot containing both of them digested with PstI was probed independently with fbh1 and POH1 cDNAs (Fig. 2). PstI was chosen because a restriction site for this enzyme is present in the sequence of fbh1 cDNA and absent in that of POH1. Furthermore, the splitting of fbh1 cDNA into two moieties allowed the distinction between the 5' and 3' ends of the cDNA and consequently between the regions coding for the N-terminal and C-terminal protein ends. Both probes cross-hybridized, although with different intensities. Furthermore, probe POH1 recognized exclusively the larger PstI fragment of the fbh1 cDNA corresponding to its 5' end. This result suggested that the homology between fbh1 and POH1 was localized mainly at the 5' end of their cDNAs. To test this hypothesis, the complete genomic sequence that includes allele fbh1-1 (3.7 Kbp) was used as query in a BLASTN (nucleotide versus nucleotide) database search for homologous sequences using a word size of 10 nt. Under these conditions, only a short region corresponding to the first 86 bp of POH1 sequence was retrieved (86% identity), indicating that sequence similarity between the two genes decreased substantially beyond this point. No other nucleotide sequences with relevant similarity to any portion of the 3.7 Kbp fragment were found in the databases.
|
When the genomic regions coding for either fbh1-1 or fbh1-2 were used in paired comparisons with the cDNA of POH1, similar results were obtained: The global nucleotide similarity level between fbh1 and POH1 was 66% (data not shown). When amino acid sequences deduced from the nucleotide sequences of the three genes were compared, a nearly complete conservation of the leader peptide sequence was found (Fig. 3). In the mature protein, however, the similarity level dropped to a value of 59%.
|
|
To confirm the allelism of fbh1 and POH1, compatible monokaryons derived from var. florida (MA005) and var. ostreatus (MG001) were mated to construct hybrid dikaryon N015, which later was placed under fruiting and sporulation conditions. Genomic DNA from dikaryon N015 and from 24 monokaryons randomly selected among its progeny was purified, digested with EcoRI, blotted and analyzed with fbh1 and POH1 probes. Both probes revealed two hybridization bands of 8.5 and 5.0 Kb, which segregated as alleles in the collection of monokaryons (Fig. 5 corresponds to the experiment probed with fbh1 cDNA). The analysis of the population showed that the 8.5 Kb fragment was provided by MG001 while the 5.0 Kb band originally was present in MA005. A slight difference in the hybridization intensity was observed between the 8.5 and 5.0 Kb bands depending on the probe used: The 8.5 Kb band was fainter when probed with fbh1, while the 5.0 Kb band was fainter when probed with POH1.
|
| DISCUSSION |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Both fbh1 and POH1 are single-copy genes in P. ostreatus as revealed by genomic Southern analysis. The RFLP analysis showed that probes corresponding to either of the two genes revealed DNA fragments of the same size with all the restriction enzymes tested. The three Fbh1/POH1 hydrophobins have 113 amino acid residues. The two alleles of fbh1 have a 96% (nucleotide) and 99% (aminoacid) sequence similarity; however, sequence comparison of Fbh1-1 and Fbh1-2 with POH1 produced amino acid identities of 59 and 58%, respectively, and 67% homology (including conservative substitutions) (Fig. 3). Sequence conservation is higher in the signal peptide region (68% identity, 76% homology) than in the mature protein (53% identity, 64% homology). Moreover, the amino acid sequences flanking the leader peptide processing site are absolutely conserved in the three proteins, suggesting that they use the same export mechanism. In addition to that, the length of the leader peptides in Fbh1 and POH1 is identical. The leader peptide size seems to be conserved between alleles and to differ between different hydrophobin genes (Table I).
Two major deletion/insertion events can be observed when Fbh1 and POH1 are compared (Fig. 3): The two Fbh1 variants have two extra amino acids preceding the first Cys residue and lack three in the stretch between the third and fourth Cys residues. The connectivity proposed for the four disulfide bonds that can be formed in hydrophobins (i.e., Cys 12, 34, 56 and 78, [Wessels 1997
]) suggests a four-looped structure for these proteins (Wessels 2000
, Wösten and de Vocht 2000
). The insertion (Fbh1 versus POH1) corresponds to the amino acids flanking the splicing site of intron-1 upstream of the first protein loop, and the deletion event occurs in exon-3 within the major protein loop. An additional minor deletion/insertion event can be observed at the protein C-terminus, where an Asn residue present in Fbh1 is missing in POH1.
Intron number and position is similar in genes fbh1 and POH1 (Fig. 3). P. ostreatus hydrophobin genes can be grouped into two classes according to their intron number (Table I): Genes vmh1 and vmh3 contain two, whereas genes fbh1/POH1, POH2 and vmh2/POH3 contain three introns. This second class of genes can be further divided into two groups because not all vmh2/POH3 introns are equivalent to those present in fbh1/POH1 and POH2. Only one equivalent intron is present in all P. ostreatus hydrophobin sequences. This intron limits the final hydrophobin exon that is conserved in size in all P. ostreatus hydrophobins, which includes the eighth conserved Cys residue. The conservation of the last hydrophobin exon could represent one of the oldest features of this gene family because other genes coding for hydrophobins in higher basidiomycetes, such as A. bisporus ABH1 and ABH2 (Lugones et al 1996
) and S. commune SC1, SC2 and SC3 (Asgeirsdóttir 1994
), contain an exon with similar characteristics.
The allelism analysis described in this paper indicates that fbh1 and POH1 behave as alleles when they are present in the same individual (Fig. 5). In A. bisporus, it has been shown that genes ABH1 and ABH2 are arranged in a closely linked tandem (Lugones et al 1996
). The possibility that fbh1 and POH1 were two different genes ordered in a similar way can be ruled out because no evidence of a sequence homologous to POH1 (in addition to fbh1) was found in the 3.7 Kb genomic region studied in this work. Were POH1 sequence outside this genomic fragment, segregation of its RFLP signals would not have been compatible with that of an allele of fbh1, or secondary hybridization signals would have appeared. This never has been the case.
Two additional features of gene fbh1 deserve special consideration: the structure of fbh1 promoter and the occurrence of microsatellite-like motifs in the region sequenced. Hydrophobin genes are highly expressed in a developmentally regulated manner. Three features of the fbh1 promoter sequence can be responsible for the high expression level. First, the presence of a putative CAAT and a canonical TATA boxes separated by an AT-rich motif (ACTTT box) that markedly reduces the local DNA dissociation temperature. In genes from filamentous fungi, the CAAT consensus box, when present, usually is found between 60120 bp upstream the major transcription start point (Gurr et al 1987
). The distant position of the putative fbh1 CAAT box (-403), however, is not exceptional because a similar position has been reported in gene Aa-Pri2 coding for a fruiting-initiation-specific hydrophobin in Agrocybe aegerita (Santos and Labarère 1999
). Second, the region flanking the initial ATG (ACACAATGTT) conforms with the consensus sequence postulated by Kozak, where nucleotide in position-3 is always a purine (preferentially adenine) (Kozak 1981
). Third, the codon usage in fbh1 that is biased as described for highly expressed genes in filamentous fungi (Gurr et al 1987
).
Four microsatellite-like sequences are prominent in the fbh1 sequence described here. The AT-rich region already described above that comprises 10 nearly identical ACTTT motifs: the occurrence of short repetitive regions of 47 nucleotides in intron-2 (sequence element GTACCTT occurs twice in fbh1-1 while only once in fbh1-2, element ACCAAAC occurs three times in fbh1-1 and once in fbh1-2, and the short tandem repeated element ACTA is found twice in fbh1-2 but once in fbh1-1); a 12-times repeated AGG motif at sequence positions 23512389; and a five times repeated GTCATA motif at sequence positions 35383568. These microsatellite-like elements can be used in species and variety differentiation within the genus Pleurotus.
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
|---|
| FOOTNOTES |
|---|
Accepted for publication May 30, 2003.
| LITERATURE CITED |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Asgeirsdóttir SA., 1994 Proteins involved in emergent growth of Schizophyllum commune. Groningen, The Netherlands: University of Groningen
, de Vries OM, Wessels JG., 1998 Identification of three differentially expressed hydrophobins in Pleurotus ostreatus (oyster mushroom). Microbiol 144:2961-2969[Abstract]
Church GM, Gilbert W., 1984 Genomic sequencing. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 81:1991-1995
de Groot PW, Roeven RT, Van Griensven LJ, Visser J, Schaap PJ., 1999 Different temporal and spatial expression of two hydrophobin-encoding genes of the edible mushroom Agaricus bisporus. Microbiol 145:1105-1113[Abstract]
, Schaap PJ, Sonnenberg AS, Visser J, Van Griensven LJ., 1996 The Agaricus bisporus hypA gene encodes a hydrophobin and specifically accumulates in peel tissue of mushroom caps during fruit body development. J Mol Biol 257:1008-1018[Medline]
Dieffenbach CW, Dveksler GS., 1995 PCR Primer. A laboratory manual. Cold Spring Harbor, USA: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
Eger G., 1976 Pleurotus ostreatus-breeding potential of a new cultivated mushroom. Theor Appl Genet 47:155-163
Gurr SJ, Unkles SE, Kinghorn JR., 1987 The structure and organization of nuclear genes in filamentous fungi. In: Gurr SJ, Unkles SE, Kinghorn JR, eds. Gene structure in eukaryotic microbes. Oxford: IRL Press. p 93139
Katayose Y, Shishido K, Ohmasa M., 1986 Cloning of Lentinus edodes mitochondrial DNA fragment capable of autonomous replication in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 138:1110-1115[Medline]
Kershaw MJ, Talbot NJ., 1998 Hydrophobins and repellents: proteins with fundamental roles in fungal morphogenesis. Fungal Genet Biol 23:18-33[Medline]
Kozak M., 1981 Composition and analysis of sequences upstream from the translational start site in eukaryotic mRNAs. Nucl Acids Res 12:857-872
Larraya L, Peñas MM, Pérez G, Santos C, Ritter E, Pisabarro AG, Ramírez L., 1999 Identification of incompatibility alleles and characterization of molecular markers genetically linked to the A incompatibility locus in the white rot fungus Pleurotus ostreatus. Curr Genet 34:486-493[Medline]
, Pérez G, Peñas MM, Baars JJ, Mikosch TS, Pisabarro AG, Ramírez L., 1999 Molecular karyotype of the white rot fungus Pleurotus ostreatus. Appl Environ Microbiol 65:3413-3417
Larraya LM, Pérez G, Ritter E, Pisabarro AG, Ramírez L., 2000 Genetic linkage map of the edible basidiomycete Pleurotus ostreatus. Appl Environ Microbiol 66:5290-5300
Lugones L, Bosscher JS, Scholtmeyer K, de Vries OMH, Wessels JGH., 1996 An abundant hydrophobin (ABH1) forms hydrophobic rodlet layers in Agaricus bisporus. Microbiol 142:1321-1329[Abstract]
, Wösten HAB, Wessels JGH., 1998 A hydrophobin (ABH3) specifically secreted by vegetatively growing hyphae of Agaricus bisporus (common white button mushroom). Microbiol 144:2345-2353[Abstract]
Palomo JM, Peñas MM, Fernández-Lorente G, Mateo C, Pisabarro AG, Fernández-Lafuente R, Ramírez L, Guisán JM., 2003 Solid phase handling of hydrophobins: immobilized hydrophobins as a new tool to study lipases. Biomacromol 4:204-210[Medline]
Peñas MM, Asgeirsdóttir SA, Lasa I, Culiañez-Macià FA, Pisabarro AG, Wessels JGH, Ramírez L., 1998 Identification, characterization, and in situ detection of a fruit-body-specific hydrophobin of Pleurotus ostreatus. Appl Environ Microbiol 64:4028-4034
, Rust B, Larraya LM, Ramírez L, Pisabarro AG., 2002 Differentially regulated vegetative mycelium specific hydrophobins of the edible basidiomycete Pleurotus ostreatus. Appl Environ Microbiol 68:3891-3898
Sambrook J, Fritsch EF, Maniatis T., 1989 Molecular cloning: a laboratory manual. Cold Spring Harbor, USA: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Santos C, Labarère J., 1999 Aa-Pri2, a single-copy gene from Agrocybe aegerita, specifically expressed during fruiting initiation, encodes a hydrophobin with a leucine-zipper domain. Curr Genet 35:564-570[Medline]
Scholtmeijer K, Wessels JG, Wösten HA., 2001 Fungal hydrophobins in medical and technical applications. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 56:1-8[Medline]
Schuren FHJ, Wessels JGH., 1990 Two genes specifically expressed in fruiting dikaryons of Schizophyllum commune: homologies with a gene not regulated by mating-type genes. Gene 90:199-205[Medline]
Schuurs TA, Dalstra HJ, Scheer JM, Wessels JG., 1998 Positioning of nuclei in the secondary mycelium of Schizophyllum commune in relation to differential gene expression. Fungal Genet Biol 23:150-61[Medline]
Segers GC, Hamada W, Oliver RP, Spanu PD., 1999 Isolation and characterization of five different hydrophobin-encoding cDNAs from the fungal tomato pathogen Cladosporium fulvum. Mol Gen Genet 261:644-652[Medline]
Thompson JD, Higgins DG, Gibson TJ., 1994 CLUSTAL W: improving the sensitivity of progressive multiple sequence alignment through sequence weighting, position-specific gap penalties and weight matrix choice. Nucl Acid Res 22:4673-4680
van Wetter MA, Wösten HA, Wessels JG., 2000 SC3 and SC4 hydrophobins have distinct roles in formation of aerial structures in dikaryons of Schizophyllum commune. Mol Microbiol 36:201-210[Medline]
Wessels JGH., 1997 Hydrophobins: proteins that change the nature of fungal surface. Adv Microbial Physiol 38:1-44[Medline]
. 2000 Hydrophobins, unique fungal proteins. Mycologist 14:153-159
Wösten HA., 2001 Hydrophobins: multipurpose proteins. Annu Rev Microbiol 55:625-46[Medline]
, de Vocht ML., 2000 Hydrophobins, the fungal coat unravelled. Biochim Biophys Acta 1469:79-86[Medline]
, Wessels JGH., 1997 Hydrophobins, from molecular structure to multiple functions in fungal development. Mycoscience 38:363-374
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |