Methods for increasing homologous recombination of a nucleic acid sequence

A method for producing a polypeptide in a filamentous fungal cell, comprising:

• (A) cultivating the filamentous fungal cell in a medium suitable for production of the polypeptide, wherein the filamentous fungal cell was obtained by (a) introducing into a population of filamentous fungal host cells a first nucleic acid sequence encoding a recombination protein and a second nucleic acid sequence comprising one or more regions which are homologous with the genome of the filamentous fungal host cell, wherein (i) the recombination protein promotes the recombination of the one or more regions with the corresponding homologous region in the genome of the filamentous fungal host cell to incorporate the second nucleic acid sequence therein by homologous recombination, and (ii) the number of host cells comprising the incorporated second nucleic acid sequence in the population of the filamentous fungal host cells is increased at least 20% compared to the same population of filamentous fungal host cells without the first nucleic acid sequence;
• and (b) isolating from the population of filamentous fungal host cells a filamentous fungal cell comprising the incorporated first nucleic acid sequence;
• and
• (B) recovering the polypeptide from the cultivation medium.

A filamentous fungal host cell, comprising one or more nucleic acid sequences encoding a recombination protein selected from the group consisting of:

• (a) a nucleic acid sequence having at least 70% identity with SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:4 or SEQ ID NO:6;
• (b) a nucleic acid sequence having at least 70% homology with SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:3 or SEQ ID NO:5;
• (c) a nucleic acid sequence which hybridizes under medium stringency conditions with (i) SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:3 or SEQ ID NO:5, (ii) the cDNA sequence contained in SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:3 or SEQ ID NO:5, or (iii) a complementary strand of (i) or (ii);
• and
• (d) a subsequence of (a), (b), or (c), wherein the subsequence encodes a polypeptide fragment which has recombination activity.

An isolated nucleic acid sequence encoding a recombination protein selected from the group consisting of:

• (a) a nucleic acid sequence encoding a polypeptide having the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:2;
• or having at least 70% identity with SEQ ID NO:4 or SEQ ID NO:6;
• (b) a nucleic acid sequence comprising SEQ ID NO:1 or having at least 70% homology with SEQ ID NO:3 or SEQ ID NO:5;
• (c) a nucleic acid sequence which hybridizes under medium stringency conditions with (i) SEQ ID NO:3 or SEQ ID NO:5, (ii) the cDNA sequence contained in SEQ ID NO:3 or SEQ ID NO:5, or (iii) a complementary strand of (i) or (ii);
• and
• (d) a subsequence of (a), (b), or (c), wherein the subsequence encodes a polypeptide fragment which has recombination activity.