Journal of Fermentation and Bioengineering, Vol.82, No.2, 161-164, 1996
Homologs of the Aflatoxin Biosynthetic Gene VER-1 in Strains of Aspergillus-Oryzae and Related Species
Partial nucleotide sequences of two ver-1 homologs in Aspergillus parasiticus SYS-4 were analyzed. One of the homologs appeared to have a termination codon at amino acid position 87 and seems to be a non-functional pseudogene. Comparison of the nucleotide sequence between the another ver-1 homolog of SYS-4 and ver-1 of A. parasiticus NRRL, 5862 led to identification of a frameshift within an exon; thus a part of amino acid sequences for the ver-1 homolog of SYS-4 and ver-1 of NRRL, 5862 seems to differ greatly. With the ver-1 region of SYS-4 as a probe, DNA homologous to ver-1 was detected in some strains of Aspergillus oryzae and Aspergillus sojae, which are non-aflatoxin-producers, in addition to strains of Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus.