Fungal plasmid-encoded polymerases

[3245cbais at umbsky.cc.umb.edu]

I am a graduate student in the Environmental Sciences Program at
UMass-Boston.  I've been working with a fairly large (14kb) linear
mitochondrial plasmid isolated from a marine filamentous fungus.
Since similar plasmids have been found to encode DNA and RNA polymerases,
I'm interested in probing this plasmid to determine if it too encodes
polymerases.
    As I see it, I have two options.  I can search the gene banks, align
and compare sequences, and hopefully come up with a region of 100-150 bp
that shows a high degree of homology among all sequences compared.  I
can have an oligo synthesized and use it as my probe.  Or, if someone
out there has clones of fungal plasmid-encoded DNA/RNA polymerases that
they would be willing to share, I could probe with the cloned gene(s).
    I feel that both approaches have advantages and disadvantages.  If
anyone has any helpful comments, suggestions or clones, I would very much
appreciate hearing from you.
    If possible, please reply to my personal E-mail address shown below.

Thank you,

Carol M. Baisden
3245CBAIS at umbsky.cc.umb.edu