Expression of mar Y1, a gypsy-type LTR-retroelement from the Ectomycorrhizal Homobasidiomycete Tricholoma matsutake, in the Budding Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Abstract

marY1 is a gypsy-type LTR-retroelement present in the genome of the ectomycorrhizal homobasidiomycete Tricholoma matsutake. We document here that a mar Y1-lacZ gene fusion was expressed in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The finding strongly suggests that mar Y1 is activated by trans-regulatory factors common to higher fungi, and may be useful for the development of new recombinant systems in ectomycorrhizal fungi and homobasidiomycetes.