Isolation of replicational cue elements from a library of bent DNAs of Aspergillus oryzae.

Two fragments that could function as replicational cue elements were isolated from a genomic DNA digest of Aspergillus oryzae on the basis of abnormal behavior in polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The vector used in this study contained a scaffold-associated region of the Drosophila melanogaster ftz gene to provide nuclear retention. Neither fragment contained a yeast ARS consensus sequence or an eukaryotic topoisomerase II binding sequence. One of the fragments showed sequence homology with the mitochondrial replication origin of Candida utilis and a portion of mitochondrial DNA of Aspergillus nidulans. This plasmid carrying the cue fragment could also replicate in HeLa and NIH3T3 cells.