Biomedical subjects

H Whittington

Publications and source records attributed to H Whittington.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1993

Genetic exchange in Trypanosoma brucei: selection of hybrid trypanosomes by introduction of genes conferring drug resistance.

Genetic exchange in Trypanosoma brucei ssp. can occur when 2 different strains are cotransmitted through the tsetse fly vector. We have introduced heterologous genes for drug resistance (neo or hph) into parental trypanosome lines by electroporation. Drug resistant lines were then crossed in vivo in the fly or in vitro. Hybrids were subsequently selected by double drug resistance. Analysis of trypanosomes from both fly midguts and salivary glands showed the latter to be the probable site of genetic exchange. This is one of the first applications of reverse genetics to a longstanding problem in parasite biology.

Animals↗

PubMed1990

Expression of the Aspergillus niger glucose oxidase gene in A. niger, A. nidulans and Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

We report the cloning of the Aspergillus niger glucose oxidase gene and its use to elevate glucose oxidase productivity in A. niger by increasing the gene dosage. In addition, the gene has been introduced into A. nidulans where it provides the novel capacity to produce glucose oxidase. A plasmid, in which DNA encoding the mature form of glucose oxidase was preceded by a Saccharomyces cerevisiae secretion signal, effected high-level production of extracellular glucose oxidase in this yeast.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed1987

Isolation and characterization of the positively acting regulatory gene QUTA from Aspergillus nidulans.

The positively acting regulator gene QUTA from Aspergillus nidulans has been identified and located within a cluster of quinic acid utilisation (QUT) genes isolated within a recombinant phage lambda (lambda Q1). The DNA sequence of the QUTA gene reveals a single uninterrupted reading frame coding for a protein of mw 90.416 Kd. The QUTA protein sequence has a protein motif in the form of a putative "DNA finger" that shows strong homology to other such motifs in the GAL4, PPR1, ARGRII, LAC9 and QA1F regulatory gene products of S. cerevisiae, K. lactis and N. crassa. The data presented confirm the view deduced by genetical analysis that the QUTA gene of A. nidulans encodes a protein capable of interacting with QUT specific DNA sequences.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed1986

Sequence analysis and transformation by the catabolic 3-dehydroquinase (QUTE) gene from Aspergillus nidulans.

The induction of catabolic 3-dehydroquinase by quinic acid in Aspergillus nidulans has been shown to involve transcriptional control and yields a single major 0.8 kb mRNA. The nucleotide sequence of the catabolic 3-dehydroquinase QUTE gene has been determined and contains a single uninterrupted open reading frame of 462 bases encoding a 16,505 Da protein of 153 residues. Comparison with the corresponding QA2 gene of Neurospora crassa reveals the absence of 75 nucleotides encoding 25 amino acids from the centre of the QUTE gene of A. nidulans and the presence of 21 additional nucleotides at its 3' end. There is no nucleotide or amino acid homology between these two elements. A 16 bp inverted repeat (5' GGCAGAGCGTTCTGCC) shows similarity to such repeats found in other fungal promoters. The functional integrity of the QUTE gene was demonstrated by the transformation of a qutE mutant strain which regains growth on quinic acid as sole carbon source. Four of the twelve transformed strains examined contained vector sequences integrated at the qutE locus, and these strains all exhibited normal regulation of 3-dehydroquinase even when 16 copies of the QUTE gene were present.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed1985