Characterization of the genomic organization of the region bordering the centromere of chromosome V of Podospora anserina by direct sequencing

Podospora anserina BAC library of 4800 clones has been constructed in the vector pBHYG allowing direct selection in fungi. Screening of the BAC collection for centromeric sequences of chromosome V allowed the recovery of clones localized on either sides of the centromere, but no BAC clone was found to contain the centromere. Seven BAC clones containing 322,195 and 156,244 bp from either sides of the centromeric region were sequenced and annotated. One 5S rRNA gene, 5 tRNA genes, and 163 putative coding sequences (CDs) were identified. Among these, only six CDs seem specific to P. anserina. The gene density in the centromeric region is approximately one gene every 2.8 kb. Extrapolation of this gene density to the whole genome of P. anserina suggests that the genome contains about 11,000 genes. Synteny analyses between P. anserina and Neurospora crassa show that co-linearity extends at the most to a few genes, suggesting rapid genome rearrangements between these two species. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.