A gene coding for ornithine decarboxylase (odcA) is differentially expressed during the Mucor circinelloides yeast-to-hypha transition.

The differential display technique was used to identify genes from Mucor circinelloides involved in the yeast-to-hypha transition. Using a limited set of primer combinations, cDNA fragments corresponding to mRNAs differentially expressed during the dimorphic transition were isolated. Northern analyses showed that the accumulation of the transcript detected by hybridisation with one of the cDNA fragments increased during the transition and was undetectable at the mycelial stage. Sequence analysis and database searches of this fragment revealed high similarity to ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) encoding genes. The odcA gene of M. circinelloides was isolated from genomic and cDNA libraries and characterised. Electrophoretic karyotyping and hybridisations showed that the odcA gene is single-copy and linked to the leuA and rDNA genes. The single transcript detected (2.1 kb), was considerably longer than the deduced ORF. Through non-radioactive primer extension analysis four transcription initiation sites were mapped to positions -61, -167, -239 and -436 from the start codon. The ODC mRNA levels increased during the yeast-to-hypha transition, reaching a maximum at 120 min, which was accompanied by a rise in ODC enzymatic activity. The expression pattern of the odcA gene showed that in M. circinelloides the ODC levels are transcriptionally regulated, in contrast with other dimorphic fungi in which a post-transcriptional regulation has been proposed.