scholarly journals The Blue-Light PhotoreceptorSfwc-1Gene Regulates the Phototropic Response and Fruiting-Body Development in the Homothallic AscomyceteSordaria fimicola

2019 ◽  
Vol 85 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kulsumpun Krobanan ◽  
Syun-Wun Liang ◽  
Ho-Chen Chiu ◽  
Wei-Chiang Shen

ABSTRACTSordaria fimicola, a coprophilous ascomycete, is a homothallic fungus that can undergo sexual differentiation with cellular and morphological changes followed by multicellular tissue development to complete its sexual cycle. In this study, we identified and characterized the blue-light photoreceptor gene inS. fimicola. TheS. fimicolawhite collar-1 photoreceptor (SfWC-1) contains light-oxygen-voltage-sensing (LOV), Per-Arnt-Sim (PAS), and other conserved domains and is homologous to the WC-1 blue-light photoreceptor ofNeurospora crassa. The LOV domain ofSfwc-1was deleted by homologous recombination usingAgrobacterium-mediated protoplast transformation. TheSfwc-1(Δlov)mutant showed normal vegetative growth but produced less carotenoid pigment under illumination. The mutant showed delayed and less-pronounced fruiting-body formation, was defective in phototropism of the perithecial beaks, and lacked the fruiting-body zonation pattern compared with the wild type under the illumination condition. Gene expression analyses supported the light-induced functions of theSfwc-1gene in the physiology and developmental process of perithecial formation inS. fimicola. Moreover, green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged SfWC-1 fluorescence signals were transiently strong upon light induction and prominently located inside the nuclei of living hyphae. Our studies focused on the putative blue-light photoreceptor in a model ascomycete and contribute to a better understanding of the photoregulatory functions and networks mediated by the evolutionarily conserved blue-light photoreceptors across diverse fungal phyla.IMPORTANCESordariasp. has been a model for study of fruiting-body differentiation in fungi. Several environmental factors, including light, affect cellular and morphological changes during multicellular tissue development. Here, we created a light-oxygen-voltage-sensing (LOV) domain-deletedSfwc-1mutant to study blue-light photoresponses inSordaria fimicola. Phototropism and rhythmic zonation of perithecia were defective in theSfwc-1(Δlov)mutant. Moreover, fruiting-body development in the mutant was reduced and also significantly delayed. Gene expression analysis and subcellular localization study further revealed the light-induced differential gene expression and cellular responses upon light stimulation inS. fimicola.

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 154-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zheng Wang ◽  
Francesc Lopez-Giraldez ◽  
Nina Lehr ◽  
Marta Farré ◽  
Ralph Common ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTFungi can serve as highly tractable models for understanding genetic basis of sexual development in multicellular organisms. Applying a reverse-genetic approach to advance such a model, we used random and multitargeted primers to assay gene expression across perithecial development inNeurospora crassa. We found that functionally unclassified proteins accounted for most upregulated genes, whereas downregulated genes were enriched for diverse functions. Moreover, genes associated with developmental traits exhibited stage-specific peaks of expression. Expression increased significantly across sexual development for mating type genemat a-1and format A-1specific pheromone precursorccg-4. In addition, expression of a gene encoding a protein similar to zinc finger,stc1, was highly upregulated early in perithecial development, and a strain with a knockout of this gene exhibited arrest at the same developmental stage. A similar expression pattern was observed for genes in RNA silencing and signaling pathways, and strains with knockouts of these genes were also arrested at stages of perithecial development that paralleled their peak in expression. The observed stage specificity allowed us to correlate expression upregulation and developmental progression and to identify regulators of sexual development. Bayesian networks inferred from our expression data revealed previously known and new putative interactions between RNA silencing genes and pathways. Overall, our analysis provides a fine-scale transcriptomic landscape and novel inferences regarding the control of the multistage development process of sexual crossing and fruiting body development inN. crassa.


Genetics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 213 (4) ◽  
pp. 1545-1563 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramona Lütkenhaus ◽  
Stefanie Traeger ◽  
Jan Breuer ◽  
Laia Carreté ◽  
Alan Kuo ◽  
...  

Many filamentous ascomycetes develop three-dimensional fruiting bodies for production and dispersal of sexual spores. Fruiting bodies are among the most complex structures differentiated by ascomycetes; however, the molecular mechanisms underlying this process are insufficiently understood. Previous comparative transcriptomics analyses of fruiting body development in different ascomycetes suggested that there might be a core set of genes that are transcriptionally regulated in a similar manner across species. Conserved patterns of gene expression can be indicative of functional relevance, and therefore such a set of genes might constitute promising candidates for functional analyses. In this study, we have sequenced the genome of the Pezizomycete Ascodesmis nigricans, and performed comparative transcriptomics of developing fruiting bodies of this fungus, the Pezizomycete Pyronema confluens, and the Sordariomycete Sordaria macrospora. With only 27 Mb, the A. nigricans genome is the smallest Pezizomycete genome sequenced to date. Comparative transcriptomics indicated that gene expression patterns in developing fruiting bodies of the three species are more similar to each other than to nonsexual hyphae of the same species. An analysis of 83 genes that are upregulated only during fruiting body development in all three species revealed 23 genes encoding proteins with predicted roles in vesicle transport, the endomembrane system, or transport across membranes, and 13 genes encoding proteins with predicted roles in chromatin organization or the regulation of gene expression. Among four genes chosen for functional analysis by deletion in S. macrospora, three were shown to be involved in fruiting body formation, including two predicted chromatin modifier genes.


2010 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 894-905 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Klix ◽  
M. Nowrousian ◽  
C. Ringelberg ◽  
J. J. Loros ◽  
J. C. Dunlap ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Mating-type genes in fungi encode regulators of mating and sexual development. Heterothallic ascomycete species require different sets of mating-type genes to control nonself-recognition and mating of compatible partners of different mating types. Homothallic (self-fertile) species also carry mating-type genes in their genome that are essential for sexual development. To analyze the molecular basis of homothallism and the role of mating-type genes during fruiting-body development, we deleted each of the three genes, SmtA-1 (MAT1-1-1), SmtA-2 (MAT1-1-2), and SmtA-3 (MAT1-1-3), contained in the MAT1-1 part of the mating-type locus of the homothallic ascomycete species Sordaria macrospora. Phenotypic analysis of deletion mutants revealed that the PPF domain protein-encoding gene SmtA-2 is essential for sexual reproduction, whereas the α domain protein-encoding genes SmtA-1 and SmtA-3 play no role in fruiting-body development. By means of cross-species microarray analysis using Neurospora crassa oligonucleotide microarrays hybridized with S. macrospora targets and quantitative real-time PCR, we identified genes expressed under the control of SmtA-1 and SmtA-2. Both genes are involved in the regulation of gene expression, including that of pheromone genes.


2006 ◽  
Vol 188 (5) ◽  
pp. 1733-1743 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle E. Diodati ◽  
Faisury Ossa ◽  
Nora B. Caberoy ◽  
Ivy R. Jose ◽  
Wataru Hiraiwa ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT NtrC-like activators regulate the transcription of a wide variety of adaptive genes in bacteria. Previously, we demonstrated that a mutation in the ntrC-like activator gene nla18 causes defects in fruiting body development in Myxococcus xanthus. In this report, we describe the effect that nla18 inactivation has on gene expression patterns during development and vegetative growth. Gene expression in nla18 mutant cells is altered in the early stages of fruiting body development. Furthermore, nla18 mutant cells are defective for two of the earliest events in development, production of the intracellular starvation signal ppGpp and production of A-signal. Taken together, these results indicate that the developmental program in nla18 mutant cells goes awry very early. Inactivation of nla18 also causes a dramatic decrease in the vegetative growth rate of M. xanthus cells. DNA microarray analysis revealed that the vegetative expression patterns of more than 700 genes are altered in nla18 mutant cells. Genes coding for putative membrane and membrane-associated proteins are among the largest classes of genes whose expression is altered by nla18 inactivation. This result is supported by our findings that the profiles of membrane proteins isolated from vegetative nla18 mutant and wild-type cells are noticeably different. In addition to genes that code for putative membrane proteins, nla18 inactivation affects the expression of many genes that are likely to be important for protein synthesis and gene regulation. Our data are consistent with a model in which Nla18 controls vegetative growth and development by activating the expression of genes involved in gene regulation, translation, and membrane structure.


BMC Genomics ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chi Keung Cheng ◽  
Chun Hang Au ◽  
Sarah K Wilke ◽  
Jason E Stajich ◽  
Miriam E Zolan ◽  
...  

2015 ◽  
Vol 198 (3) ◽  
pp. 377-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zaara Sarwar ◽  
Anthony G. Garza

When starved for nutrients,Myxococcus xanthusproduces a biofilm that contains a mat of rod-shaped cells, known as peripheral rods, and aerial structures called fruiting bodies, which house thousands of dormant and stress-resistant spherical spores. Because rod-shaped cells differentiate into spherical, stress-resistant spores and spore differentiation occurs only in nascent fruiting bodies, many genes and multiple levels of regulation are required. Over the past 2 decades, many regulators of the temporal and spatial expression ofM. xanthussporulation genes have been uncovered. Of these sporulation gene regulators, two-component signal transduction circuits, which typically contain a histidine kinase sensor protein and a transcriptional regulator known as response regulator, are among the best characterized. In this review, we discuss prototypical two-component systems (Nla6S/Nla6 and Nla28S/Nla28) that regulate an early, preaggregation phase of sporulation gene expression during fruiting body development. We also discuss orphan response regulators (ActB and FruA) that regulate a later phase of sporulation gene expression, which begins during the aggregation stage of fruiting body development. In addition, we summarize the research on a complex two-component system (Esp) that is important for the spatial regulation of sporulation.


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