The Aspergillus nidulans cetA and calA genes are involved in conidial germination and cell wall morphogenesis

The Aspergillus nidulans genes cetA (AN3079.2) and calA (AN7619.2) encode a novel class of fungal thaumatin-like proteins of unknown function. Deletion of cetA does not result in an observable phenotype [Greenstein, S., Shadkchan, Y., Jadoun, J., Sharon, C., Markovich, S., Osherov, N., 2006. Analysi...

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Published in:	Fungal genetics and biology Vol. 45; no. 3; pp. 232 - 242
Main Authors:	Belaish, Ravit, Sharon, Haim, Levdansky, Emma, Greenstein, Shulamit, Shadkchan, Yana, Osherov, Nir
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States Elsevier Inc 01-03-2008
Subjects:	Aspergillus nidulans Aspergillus nidulans - genetics Aspergillus nidulans - growth & development Aspergillus nidulans - metabolism Aspergillus nidulellus Blotting, Northern Blotting, Western branching calA gene Cell Wall - metabolism Cell wall integrity Cell wall morphogenesis cell walls cetA gene conidia Conidial germination fungal proteins Fungal Proteins - genetics Fungal Proteins - metabolism Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal genes hyphae Models, Genetic Morphogenesis mutants Mutation Phenotype spore germination Spores, Fungal - genetics Spores, Fungal - growth & development Thaumatin-like protein thaumatin-like proteins Conidial germination Cell wall integrity Cell wall morphogenesis Aspergillus nidulans Thaumatin-like protein
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Summary:	The Aspergillus nidulans genes cetA (AN3079.2) and calA (AN7619.2) encode a novel class of fungal thaumatin-like proteins of unknown function. Deletion of cetA does not result in an observable phenotype [Greenstein, S., Shadkchan, Y., Jadoun, J., Sharon, C., Markovich, S., Osherov, N., 2006. Analysis of the Aspergillus nidulans thaumatin-like cetA gene and evidence for transcriptional repression of pyr4 expression in the cetA-disrupted strain. Fungal Genet. Biol. 43, 42–53]. We prepared knockout calA and calA/cetA A. nidulans strains. The calA mutants were phenotypically identical to the wild-type. In contrast, the cetA/ calA double mutant showed a synthetic lethal phenotype suggesting that the two genes affect a single function or pathway: most of its conidia were completely inhibited in germination. Many collapsed and underwent lysis. A few showed abnormal germination characterized by short swollen hyphae and abnormal hyphal branching. Nongerminated conidia contained a single condensed nucleus suggesting a block in early germination. This is the first functional analysis of the novel cetA/ calA family of thaumatin-like genes and their role in A. nidulans conidial germination. We show that CETA and CALA are secreted proteins that together play an essential role in early conidial germination.
Bibliography:	http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fgb.2007.07.005 ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	1087-1845 1096-0937
DOI:	10.1016/j.fgb.2007.07.005