This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Lodato, P.
Right arrow Articles by Cifuentes, V.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Lodato, P.
Right arrow Articles by Cifuentes, V.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Lodato, P.
Right arrow Articles by Cifuentes, V.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, August 2003, p. 4676-4682, Vol. 69, No. 8
0099-2240/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.69.8.4676-4682.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Alternative Splicing of Transcripts from crtI and crtYB Genes of Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous

P. Lodato, J. Alcaino, S. Barahona, P. Retamales, and V. Cifuentes*

Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile

Received 18 November 2002/ Accepted 5 May 2003

Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous is one of the relevant sources of the carotenoid astaxanthin. In this paper, we describe for the first time cloning of unexpected cDNAs obtained from the crtI and crtYB genes of X. dendrorhous strain UCD 67-385. The cDNA of the crtI gene conserves 80 bp of the first intron, while the cDNA of the crtYB gene conserves 55 bp of the first intron and lacks 111 bp of the second exon. The crtI and crtYB RNAs could be spliced in alternative splice sites, which produced alternative transcripts which could not be translated to active CRTI and CRTYB proteins since they had numerous stop codons in their sequences. The ratio of mature mRNA to alternative mRNA for the crtI gene decreased as a function of the age of the culture, while the cellular content of carotenoids increased. It is possible that splicing to mature or alternative transcripts could regulate the cellular concentrations of phytoene desaturase and phytoene synthase-lycopene cyclase proteins, depending on the physiological or environmental conditions.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Casilla 653, Santiago, Chile. Phone: 56-2-6787346. Fax: 56-2-2727363. E-mail: vcifuent{at}uchile.cl.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, August 2003, p. 4676-4682, Vol. 69, No. 8
0099-2240/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.69.8.4676-4682.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Larrondo, L. F., Gonzalez, B., Cullen, D., Vicuna, R. (2004). Characterization of a multicopper oxidase gene cluster in Phanerochaete chrysosporium and evidence of altered splicing of the mco transcripts. Microbiology 150: 2775-2783 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»