Circadian rhythms in Neurospora crassa:: Clock gene homologues in fungi

Computer-based analysis of a total of 17 filamentous fungal and yeasts genomes has shown: (1) homologues of frq, wc-1, wc-2, and vvd, key gene components of the Neurospora crassa clock, are present in Magnaporthe grisea, Gibberella Zeae, and Podospora anserina, suggesting an frq-based oscillator in these organisms; (2) some fungal species that are more distantly related to Neurospora, such as Rhizopous oryzae do not appear to have frq homologues; (3) many fungal species that do not appear to contain ftq, Such as Aspergillus nidulans, do contain wc homologues; (4) of I I well-described genes classified as clock-controlled genes (ccgs), in Neurospora, all of them were found to have homologues in other fungi; (5) the ccg-8 gene of N. crassa has homologies to opilp, a transcriptional regulatory gene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae involved in inositol regulation. This suggests the possibilities of rhythmic inositol regulation, and/or a cascade of rhythmic activation of other genes in N. crassa. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.