A CANDIDA-ALBICANS GENOME PROJECT - COSMID CONTIGS, PHYSICAL MAPPING,AND GENE ISOLATION

A new project to map the genome of the pathogenic fungus, Candida albi cans, has been started. The entire genome was cloned as 5088 cosmids, stored in individual microtiter plate wells. DNA was prepared and fing erprinted using restriction digestion, fluorescent labeling, and analy sis on an ABI sequencer. These data are being used to construct contig s of the genome. Simultaneously, a DNA pooling system has been set up, suitable for PCR-based isolation of cosmids containing any known gene . Ultimately, these approaches will lead to the creation of a physical ly based map of the C. albicans genome, providing the means to localiz e precisely all the genes, act as a substrate for genome sequencing pr ojects, and provide probes for future studies of genome rearrangement and comparative genomics. (C) 1997 Academic Press.