THE GENOME AND GENES OF NEUROSPORA-CRASSA

Neurospora crassa is an organism with a 7-decade contribution to genet ic research. In a genome of 42.9 Mb and just over 1000 map units, to d ate over 800 different genes have been identified by phenotype and/or map location, and 222 genes have been characterized by sequencing. Met hods by which analysis of the genome has been carried out are discusse d, including linkage, RFLP, and chromosome walking. Characterized cent omeres, telomeres, the nucleolar organizer and the dispersed 5S rRNA g enes are discussed. Analysis of the protein-encoding genes is undertak en, using new software for the querying of standard sequence databases . Gene analysis includes consensus sequences for transcription and RNA splicing and new insights into codon usage. (C) 1997 Academic Press.