The glucose repressor CRE1 from Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is functionally related to CREA from Aspergillus nidulans but not to the Mig proteins from Saccharomyces cerevisiae

We isolated the putative glucose repressor gene Crel from the phytopathogenic fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. Crel encodes a 429 amino acid protein 59% similar to the carbon catabolite repressor CREA from Aspergillus nidulans. In addition to the overall amino acid sequence relatedness between CRE1 and CREA proteins, cre1 can functionally complement the A. nidulans creAd30 mutation as assessed by repression of the alcohol dehydrogenase I gene expression, The CRE1 region carrying the two zinc fingers is also very similar to the DNA binding domains of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae glucose repressors Mig1p and Mig2p. Despite the presence in the CRE1 protein of several motifs in, oh ed in the regulation of Mig1p activity, cre1 cannot complement mig deficiencies in S. cerevisiae. These data suggest that glucose repression pathways may have evolved differently yeasts and filamentous fungi. (C) 1999 Federation of European Biochemical Societies.