nit-2, the Major Nitrogen Regulatory Gene of Neurospora crassa, Encodes a Protein with a Putative Zinc Finger DNA-Binding Domain

Abstract

The nitrogen regulatory circuit of Neurospora crassa consists of a set of unlinked structural genes which specify various nitrogen catabolic enzymes plus control genes and metabolic effectors which regulate their expression. The positive-acting nit-2 regulatory gene is required to turn on the expression of the nitrogen catabolic enzymes during conditions of nitrogen limitation. The complete nucleotide sequence of the nit-2 gene was determined. The nit-2 mRNA is 4.3 kilobases long and has a long nontranslated sequence at both its 5′ and 3′ ends. The nit-2 gene nucleotide sequence can be translated to yield a protein containing 1,036 amino acid residues with a molecular weight of approximately 110,000. Deletion analyses demonstrated that approximately 21% of the NIT2 protein at its carboxy terminus can be removed without loss of function. The nit-2 protein contains a single putative Cys₂/Cys₂ zinc finger domain which appears to function in DNA binding and which has striking homology to a mammalian /raws-acting factor, GF-1.