Patent ID: 7393639

Claim:
A method for identifying a gene associated with a detectable phenotype in a fungus, comprising: (a) transforming the fungus with a polynucleotide comprising a marker gene which would otherwise be transcriptionally active in the fungus but which has been inactivated by the insertion of a defective Impala transposon, said marker gene comprising, in the direction of transcription, a promoter regulatory sequence of the niaD gene from Aspergillus nidulans which is more than 0.4 kb long and which is functionally linked to the coding sequence of said marker gene; (b) mobilizing the defective Impala transposon using a transposase, the expression of which is controlled, under conditions which allow the excision of the Impala transposon, and further controlling expression of the transposase so as to permit reinsertion and stabilization of the Impala transposon in the genome of the fungus; (c) selecting at least one insertion mutant with said detectable phenotype; and (d) isolating the gene into which, or close to which, the Impala transposon has inserted in the insertion mutant selected in (c).