The amdR product and a CCAAT-binding factor bind to adjacent, possibly overlapping DNA sequences in the promoter region of the Aspergillus nidulans amdS gene.

The amdS gene of Aspergillus nidulans is regulated by a number of positively acting regulatory genes which act additively and independently. Using gel mobility shift assays with crude nuclear extracts we show here that the product of one of these regulatory genes, the amdR gene, binds to DNA fragments containing part of the promoter region of the amdS gene. This confirms the earlier prediction from DNA sequence data that amdR encodes a DNA-binding protein containing a cysteine-rich 'zinc finger' motif. In addition we detected the binding of another previously unidentified protein to an adjacent, possibly overlapping region of the amdS 5' sequence at the site of a consensus 'CCAAT-box' sequence. Replacement of the CCAAT sequence with CCTTT abolished the binding of this protein which we have designated as an A. nidulans 'CCAAT-box' binding factor (AnCF). The 'CCAAT-box' sequence appears to be involved in determining the basal level of transcription of amdS (T.G. Littlejohn and M.J.H., unpublished data). This suggests that AnCF is a transcription factor, and that the 'CCAAT-box' sequences found in the promoters of some filamentous fungal genes function as binding sites for these factors, as in other eucaryotes.