The experiments were performed in three

replicates, and reported values are representative of two experiments. Pleurotus ostreatus mycelia were grown on microscope coverslips and observed in a NIKON ECLIPSE TE 2000-U microscopic system with appropriate fluorescein isothiocyanate filters (Nikon Corporation, Tokyo, Japan). Normal phase-contrast images of each sample were used as controls. The digital image was further processed using this website photoshop 5.0 (Adobe). Chromosomal high-molecular weight DNA from P. ostreatus was prepared as described by Raeder & Broda (1988). Amplification experiments were carried out on 50 ng of genomic DNA in a 50 μL total volume, using the gene-specific oligonucleotides EGFP 3dir and EGFP 5rev (Table 1) as primers and Taq DNA polymerase (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA). Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) conditions consisted of 30 cycles of 94 °C (1 min), 58 °C (45 s), and 72 °C

(2 min) plus an additional final chain elongation step at 72 °C for 10 min. Genomic DNA from the transformants was isolated (Raeder & Broda, 1988), digested with the restriction enzymes EcoRI, BamHI, and PstI (Promega, Italy), and after electrophoresis on 0.8% agarose gel, transferred to a Hybond-NX nylon membrane (GE Healthcare). The membrane was hybridized using the PCR-amplified egfp sequence as radioactive probe, as previously described (Palmieri et al., 2000). Total RNAs were see more extracted from lyophilized mycelia of transformants using Qiagen RNeasy Plant (Qiagen, Italy) and following manufacturer’s instructions. Reverse transcription reaction was performed using MultiScribe™ Reverse Transcriptase (Applied Biosystems, Branchburg, NJ) and the oligonucleotide dT-NotI as primer. Products of the PCR experiments, performed using the gene-specific oligonucleotides

EGFP3dir/EGFP5rev (Table 1), were analyzed on 1% agarose gel. Analysis of the P. ostreatus poxa1b, poxc, and poxa3 promoter regions extending around 1400-bp upstream of the ATG was performed searching for the putative response elements heat shock element (HSE, repeated NGAAN motif; Mager & De Kruijff, 1995), NIT2 binding site (TATCT; Marzluf, 1997), antioxidant response element (ARE, TGACNNNGC; Soden & Dobson, 2003), putative response elements PRE (ATATC and TGGGT motifs; Soden & Sitaxentan Dobson, 2003), MRE (TGCRCNC; Thiele, 1992), xenobiotic responsive elements (XRE TNGCGTG; Xiao et al., 2006), Cre-A-binding site (GCGGGG; Litvintseva & Henson, 2002), and stress-responsive element (STRE, CCCCT; Galhaup et al., 2002). Several putative response elements were identified differentially distributed along the promoter sequences (Fig. 2). The highest number (10) of putative MREs was identified within the poxa3 and poxa1b promoters, in the latter case consistently with previous data of poxa1b transcription induction by copper addition to fungal growth medium (Palmieri et al., 2000).