Gene Arrangement and Sequence of the 5S rRNA in Filobasidiella neoformans (Cryptococcus neoformans) as a Phylogenetic Indicator

Abstract

We cloned the 5S rRNA gene and determined its organization in the four genes encoding rRNAs in a ribosomal DNA repeat unit of Filobasidiella neoformans, the teleomorph of Cryptococcus neoformans. The 5S rRNA gene contained 118 nucleotides and was located 1 kb upstream from the 18S rRNA gene within the 8.6-kb fragment of the ribosomal DNA repeat unit. The sequence of the 5S rRNA gene from F. neoformans was more similar to the sequence of the 5S rRNA gene from Tremella mesenterica than to the sequences of the 5S rRNA genes from Filobasidium species. The arrangement of the rRNA genes in F. neoformans closely resembles the arrangement of the rRNA genes in mushrooms such as Schizophyllum commune, Agaricus bisporus, and Coprinus cinereus in that the 5S rRNA-coding region not only is located within the repeat unit that encodes the other rRNAs but also is transcribed in the same direction as the other rRNA genes. This is the first description of the arrangement of rRNA genes in a species belonging to the Heterobasidiomycetes.