Molecular characterization of Candida boidinii MIG1 and its role in the regulation of methanol-inducible gene expression

Methanol-inducible gene promoters in methanol-utilizing yeasts are used in high-level heterologous gene expression systems. Generally, expression of methanol-inducible genes is completely repressed by the presence of glucose. In this study we identified the MIG1 gene in Candida boidinii, which encodes a homologue of the glucose repressor Mig1p of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Disruption of the CbMIG1 gene had no growth effect on various carbon sources. Activation of the methanol-inducible AOD1 gene, which encodes alcohol oxidase, was increased in the early stage of methanol induction when cells of the CbMIG1-disrupted strain were transferred from glucose medium to methanol medium. Furthermore, CbMig1p tagged with yellow fluorescent protein was primarily localized in the nucleus of glucose-grown cells, but was diffuse in the cytosol of methanol-grown cells. This cytosolic diffusion in methanol-grown cells occurred in a CbMsn5p-dependent manner. These results suggest that CbMig1p is involved in negative regulation of methanol-inducible gene expression in C. boidinii. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.