Plant & Animal Genomes XI Conference

January 11-15, 2003
Town & Country Convention Center
San Diego, CA

Poster: Gene Isolation
             

ISOLATION NA⁺/H⁺ ANTIPORTER GENE AND GLYCEROL-3-PHOSPHATE DEHYDROGENASE GENE FROM THE DEAD SEA FUNGUS--EUROTIUM HERBARIORUM

Institute of Evolution, University of Haifa, Haifa 31905, Israel

The Dead Sea is one of the most saline lakes on earth. Eurotium herbariorum is a common fungal species isolated from the Dead Sea water. This fungus must possess genetic mechanisms ensuring its adaptation to this extreme hypersaline environment. In order to identify the link between salt-tolerance of E. herbariorum and the function of Na⁺/H⁺ antiporter, the Na⁺/H⁺ antiporter gene was isolated from E. herbariorum, which exhibited homology to the Na⁺/H⁺ antiporter gene from Neurospora crassa. Likewise, in order to clarify the relationship between salt-tolerance of E. herbariorum and osmoregulation of glycerol, the GPD gene, encoding glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, was isolated from E. herbariorum, which appeared highly homologous to the GPD gene of Aspergillus niger. Further characterization of these two genes may shed light on the molecular basis of salt-tolerance of Dead Sea fungus E. herbariorum.