A non-stop antisense reading frame in the grp78 gene of Neurospora crassa is homologous to the Achlya klebsiana NAD-gdh gene but is not being transcribed

A long non-stop reading frame exists on the antisense strand of the grp78 gene (cDNA and genomic DNA) of Neurospora crassa. Computer analysis revealed a strong similarity of the putative antisense protein to the 10th exon of the NAD-dependent glutamate dehydrogenase gene ( NAD-gdh) of Achlya klebsiana, which is itself located on the complementary strand of a transcribed hsc70 gene homologue. In Neurospora, no grp78 antisense mRNA was detected by Northern blot and reverse transcription-coupled polymerase chain reaction analyses, indicating that this long reading frame is not being transcribed. Hypotheses for the presence of such unexpressed non-stop reading frames are discussed.