The opportunistic pathogenic yeast, Candida (Torulopsis) glabrata, is
an asexual imperfect fungus that exists largely as a haploid. Besides
being a clinically important pathogen, this yeast also provides a mode
l system for understanding basic biological mechanisms such as metal-a
ctivated metallothionein-encoding gene transcription. To facilitate mo
lecular genetic studies in C. glabrata, we isolated a strain auxotroph
ic for uracil biosynthesis. The ura(-) mutation could be functionally
complemented by the URA3 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, consistent
with a defect in the C. glabrata URA3 gene in this strain. We also fou
nd that the centromere-based S. cerevisiae plasmid pRS316 could stably
transform and replicate in multiple copies in C. glabrata. In contras
t, high-copy-number S. cerevisiae plasmids containing the 2 mu circle
autonomous replication sequence were not able to replicate productivel
y in C. glabrata. We cloned the C. glabrata URA3 gene, encoding orotid
ine-5'-phosphate decarboxylase, by complementation of a ura3(-) strain
of S. cerevisiae. The deduced amino-acid sequence is highly similar t
o that of the URA3 protein from S. cerevisiae. C. glabrata URA3 provid
es a genetic locus for targeted gene integration in C. glabrata. Integ
rative plasmids were constructed based on the cloned C. glabrata URA3
and are applicable for directed insertions of genes of interest at the
ura3 locus through homologous recombination.