Isolation and expression of a nitrogen regulatory gene, nmc, of Penicillium roqueforti

The nmc gene, encoding a global nitrogen regulator, has been cloned and cha racterized from Penicillium roqueforti li, a fungus used in the dairy indus try. The deduced amino acid sequence predicts a protein of 860 amino acids in length whose zinc finger DNA binding domain is at least 94% identical to those of the homologous fungal proteins. Northern blot analysis showed tha t nmc,le expression is induced by nitrogen starvation and not repressed by variation of the external pH. (C) 1999 Federation of European Microbiologic al Societies, Published by Elsevier Science B.V, All rights reserved.