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A transformation system for the yeast Candida utilis: use of a modified endogenous ribosomal protein gene as a drug-resistant marker and ribosomal DNA as an integration target for vector DNA

We have developed a transformation system for the yeast Candida utilis. A novel strategy was applied to construct the transformation system, since auxotrophic mutants which could be used as hosts for transformation are not available. A gene encoding the ribosomal protein L41 was cloned from C. utilis, which is sensitive to cycloheximide, and used as a marker gene conferring cycloheximide resistance after modification of its amino acid sequence. The marker gene was constructed by substitution of the proline codon at position 56 with the glutamine codon by in vitro mutagenesis, as it had been reported previously that the 56th amino acid residue of L41 is responsible for the cycloheximide sensitivity of various organisms (S. Kawai, S. Murao, M. Mochizuki, I. Shibuya, K. Yano, and M. Takagi, J. Bacteriol. 174:254-262 1992). The ribosomal DNA (i.e., DNA coding for rRNA) of C. utilis was also cloned and used as a multiple-copy target for the integration of vector DNA into the genome, which resulted in a high transformation efficiency. Transformants were obtained by electroporation with a maximum efficiency of approximately 1,400 transformants per 1 microgram of linearized DNA carrying the gene for cycloheximide resistance and part of the ribosomal DNA. No transformants were obtained with intact plasmids. Multiple copies of the linearized plasmid were integrated into the host chromosome by homologous recombination. Southern analysis of the transformants in which vector DNA was integrated at the L41 gene locus indicated that there are two copies of gene for the L41 protein per cell, suggesting that C. utilis is diploid. Transformants were obtained from a variety of C. utilis strains, indicating that this method is applicable to the transformation of other C. utilis strains, even though there is significant heterogeneity in chromosomal karyotypes among these strains.