Isolation of genomic clones containing the amdS gene of Aspergillus nidulans and their use in the analysis of structural and regulatory mutations.

Previous analysis of the amdS gene of Aspergillus nidulans has identified multiple regulatory circuits mediated by trans-acting regulatory genes, cis-acting mutations have been identified and shown to specifically affect individual regulatory circuits. Fine-structure genetic mapping of the amdS regions showed that these cis-acting mutations occur in a complex controlling region adjacent to the amdS structural gene. The amdS gene was cloned by differential hybridization, using cDNA probes derived from a high-level-producing strain and from a strain with a large amdS deletion mutation. RNA blotting experiments showed that a single RNA species of 1,600 to 1,700 base pairs is transcribed from the amdS gene. DNA blotting experiments on a large number of amdS mutant strains, including deletions and translocations, allowed the genetic and physical maps of the gene to be correlated. The controlling region of the gene is situated at the 5' end of the gene and the direction of transcription is toward the centromere of chromosome III. The regulatory mutations in the controlling region were found to be due to small-scale alterations in the DNA rather than to large-scale rearrangements resulting in gene fusions.