Mutant bank

Abstract

The invention relates to a mutant bank of diploid micro-organisms which consists of a population of mutant cells in which at least one cell has a random mutation which disrupts the activity of at least one gene, wherein the micro-organism is inducible into haploid form. The invention further relates to a method of using the mutant bank to identify the genes which contribute to a chosen phenotype.

1 - 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A mutant bank of micro-organisms comprising a population of mutant cells in which at least one cell has a mutation that disrupts the activity of at least one gene, said micro-organisms being diploid and being inducible into haploid form. 
     
     
         22 . The mutant bank according to claim  1 , wherein when the micro-organisms normally occur in a haploid form, they are first induced into the diploid form. 
     
     
         23 . The mutant bank according to claim  1 , wherein a plurality of cells in the population each individually have a mutation which disrupts the activity of at least one gene, so that collectively the said plurality of cells have mutations in a plurality of genes within the genome. 
     
     
         24 . The mutant bank according to claim  3 , wherein the said plurality of genes makes up 0.001% of the genes within the genome. 
     
     
         25 . The mutant bank according to claim  1 , wherein the micro-organism is a fungus. 
     
     
         26 . The mutant bank according to claim  1 , wherein the micro-organism is a filamentous fungus. 
     
     
         27 . The mutant bank according to claim  1 , wherein the micro-organism is  A. fumigatus.    
     
     
         28 . The mutant bank according to claim  1 , wherein the micro-organism is a yeast. 
     
     
         29 . The mutant bank according to claim  1 , wherein the mutations have been randomly induced. 
     
     
         30 . The mutant bank according to claim  1 , wherein the mutant bank is formed by an insertional mutagenesis method, wherein a DNA molecule is inserted into each gene to cause the mutation, and wherein the DNA molecule is a selectable marker. 
     
     
         31 . The mutant bank according to claim  1 , wherein the mutations are induced using the Ti plasmid of  Agrobacterium.    
     
     
         32 . The mutant bank according to claim  11 , wherein the mutations are induced using the Ti plasmid of LBA4404 or GV3101. 
     
     
         33 . A method of generating a mutant bank of micro-organisms comprising a population of mutant cells in which at least one cell has a mutation that disrupts the activity of at least one gene, said method comprising the steps of.
 (i) culturing a population of micro-organisms; and   (ii) inducing a mutation in at least one cell of the population which mutation disrupts the activity of at least one gene in the genome of the micro-organism, said micro-organisms being diploid and being inducible into haploid form.   
     
     
         34 . A method of generating a mutant bank according to claim  13 , wherein when the micro-organisms are normally haploid, they are first induced into the diploid form prior to culturing the said population. 
     
     
         35 . A method of generating a mutant bank according to claim  13 , wherein the micro-organism is a fungus. 
     
     
         36 . A method of generating a mutant bank according to claim  13 , wherein the micro-organism is a filamentous fungus. 
     
     
         37 . A method of generating a mutant bank according to claim  13 , wherein the micro-organism is a yeast. 
     
     
         38 . A method of generating a mutant bank according to claim  13 , wherein the mutations have been randomly induced. 
     
     
         39 . A method of identifying genes in a micro-organism which contribute to a chosen phenotype comprising:
 (i) generating a mutant bank of diploid micro-organisms consisting of a population of mutant cells in which each individual cell has a mutation which disrupts the activity of one gene, said population collectively having a mutation in every gene within the genome;   (ii) exposing the diploid micro-organisms to an agent that induces the micro-organisms into haploid form;   (iii) separating and culturing the haploid micro-organisms as single clones;   (iv) selecting colonies for which the chosen phenotype is altered relative to a wild type micro-organism; and   (v) identifying the mutated gene in each of the selected clones.