Zinc Finger Proteins in the Human Fungal Pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans

Zinc is one of the essential trace elements in eukaryotes and it is a critical structural component of a large number of proteins. Zinc finger proteins (ZNFs) are zinc-finger domain-containing proteins stabilized by bound zinc ions and they form the most abundant proteins, serving extraordinarily di...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of molecular sciences 2020-02, Vol.21 (4), p.1361
Main Authors: Li, Yuan-Hong, Liu, Tong-Bao
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
cryptococcus neoformans
fungal development
Review
sexual reproduction
virulence
zinc finger proteins
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Summary:Zinc is one of the essential trace elements in eukaryotes and it is a critical structural component of a large number of proteins. Zinc finger proteins (ZNFs) are zinc-finger domain-containing proteins stabilized by bound zinc ions and they form the most abundant proteins, serving extraordinarily diverse biological functions. In recent years, many ZNFs have been identified and characterized in the human fungal pathogen , a fungal pathogen causing fatal meningitis mainly in immunocompromised individuals. It has been shown that ZNFs play important roles in the morphological development, differentiation, and virulence of . In this review, we, first, briefly introduce the ZNFs and their classification. Then, we explain the identification and classification of the ZNFs in . Next, we focus on the biological role of the ZNFs functionally characterized so far in the sexual reproduction, virulence factor production, ion homeostasis, pathogenesis, and stress resistance in . We also discuss the perspectives on future function studies of ZNFs in .
ISSN:1422-0067
1422-0067
DOI:10.3390/ijms21041361