EXPRESSED SEQUENCES FROM CONIDIAL, MYCELIAL, AND SEXUAL STAGES OF NEUROSPORA-CRASSA

In the Neurospora Genome Project at the University of New Mexico, expr essed sequence tags (ESTs) corresponding to three stages of the life c ycle of the filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa are being analyzed. T he results of a pilot project to identify expressed genes and determin e their patterns of expression are presented. 1,865 partial complement ary DNA (cDNA) sequences for 1,409 clones were determined using single -pass sequencing. Contig analysis allowed the identification of 838 un ique ESTs and 156 ESTs present in multiple cDNA clones. For about 34% of the sequences, highly or moderately significant matches to sequence s (of known and unknown function) in the NCBI database were detected. Approximately 56% of the ESTs showed no similarity to previously ident ified genes. Among genes with assigned function, about 43.3% were invo lved in metabolism, 32.9% in protein synthesis and 8.4% in RNA synthes is. Fewer were involved in defense (6%), cell signalling (3.4%), cell structure (3.4%) and cell division (2.6%). (C) 1997 Academic Press.