DNA was isolated from A. niger using a modified TES method (Mahuku, 2004). Promoter-less xylanase/pAN56-1 plasmid vector was developed in the following steps. Construction of pAN7-1 (ClaI). A polylinker was designed to create a unique ClaI site in the EVpAN7-1 vector. The nucleotide sequence of the double stranded primer was: 5′-GCTCTAGAATCGATTCTAGAG C-3′. Two primers were annealed and digested

with ClaI and cloned in XbaI site of EVPAN7-1 vector. The vector was now called pAN7-1 (ClaI) (Fig. 1). Construction of pAN56-1 (SalI-NcoI). A polylinker was designed to create multiple cloning sites (SalI-NotI-EcoRV and NcoI) to introduce the promoter 5′-ACGCGT CGACCCATCGATGGGCGGCCGCGATATCCCATGGCA TG 3′. Two primers were annealed and digested with SalI and NcoI, and then see more cloned into SalI- and NcoI-digested alkaline xylanase vector pAN56-1 (alx xylanase-truncat) to construct the pAN56-1 (SalI-NcoI) (Fig. 1). The alkaline xylanase is from Actinomadura Z-VAD-FMK molecular weight sp. Construction of promoter-less xylanase/pAN56-1-vector.

pAN7-1 (ClaI) and pAN56-1 (SalI-NcoI) were digested by SalI and ClaI separately. A smaller fragment (around 2121 bp) from plasmid pAN7-1 (ClaI) containing the selection marker, i.e. hygromycin gene, was ligated to the linearized pAN56-1 (SalI-NcoI) containing multiple cloning site (MCS), reporter gene (alkaline xylanase from Actinomorpha), gluco-amylase terminator, ampicillin gene, a selection marker for Escherichia coli and ori for replication in E. coli. Finally, the constructed vector was digested by various restriction enzymes (viz. SalI plus EcoRV, BamHI plus EcoRI, NcoI, ClaI, NotI) to confirm the availability and functionality of different restriction sites. As the region between −562 and −318 regulates the high level expression of glaA (Fowler et al., 1990), catR promoter was also analyzed within 1000 bp upstream (-)-p-Bromotetramisole Oxalate of the starting ATG. The effect of the CAAT motif was evaluated particularly with reference to Pcat300 and Pcat924 as the former does not contain the CAAT sequence

(Pcat300), whereas Pcat924 has CAAT motifs. The catR promoters (Pcat300, Pcat924) were amplified from A. niger genomic DNA by PCR using the primers cat300F (5′-ACTTGTTGTGGTGATCTTGAGCA-3′) and cat300R (5′-GCATGGCGGAGTAAACGAA-3′) and cat924F (5′-AGGTTTAGTGAAGGAACACCCGTGGCGAGT-3′) and cat924R (5′-GCATGGCGGAGTAAACGAA-3′) synthesized by M/S Sigma USA. Primers were designed on the basis of the complete genome sequence of wild-type A. niger ATCC 1015 strain. For PCR amplification, 20 ng of DNA, 10 pmol of each primer, 200 μM dNTP mix, 1 U of Taq DNA polymerase (Bangalore Geneii, India) with reaction buffer supplied by the manufacturer were used. Amplification was performed in a 20-μL reaction volume in a Thermocycler (Eppendorf, Germany). Cycling parameters for Pcat300 were 3 min of denaturation at 95 °C followed by 35 cycles at 94 °C for 30 s, 55 °C for 30 s, and 72 °C for 1 min.