The Putative C 2 H 2 Transcription Factor VadH Governs Development, Osmotic Stress Response, and Sterigmatocystin Production in Aspergillus nidulans

The VosA-VelB hetero-dimeric complex plays a pivotal role in regulating development and secondary metabolism in . In this work, we characterize a new VosA/VelB-activated gene called , which is predicted to encode a 457-amino acid length protein containing four adjacent C H zinc-finger domains. Mutat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cells (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2022-12, Vol.11 (24)
Main Authors: Li, Xiaoyu, Zhao, Yanxia, Moon, Heungyun, Lim, Jieyin, Park, Hee-Soo, Liu, Zhiqiang, Yu, Jae-Hyuk
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aspergillus nidulans - genetics
Fungal Proteins - metabolism
Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal
Osmoregulation
Sterigmatocystin - metabolism
Transcription Factors - genetics
Transcription Factors - metabolism
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Summary:The VosA-VelB hetero-dimeric complex plays a pivotal role in regulating development and secondary metabolism in . In this work, we characterize a new VosA/VelB-activated gene called , which is predicted to encode a 457-amino acid length protein containing four adjacent C H zinc-finger domains. Mutational inactivation of or led to reduced mRNA levels of throughout the lifecycle, suggesting that VosA and VelB have a positive regulatory effect on the expression of . The deletion of resulted in decreased asexual development (conidiation) but elevated production of sexual fruiting bodies (cleistothecia), indicating that VadH balances asexual and sexual development in . Moreover, the deletion mutant exhibited elevated susceptibility to hyperosmotic stress compared to wild type and showed elevated production of the mycotoxin sterigmatocystin (ST). Genome-wide expression analyses employing RNA-Seq have revealed that VadH is likely involved in regulating more genes and biological pathways in the developmental stages than those in the vegetative growth stage. The , , and genes of the central regulatory pathway for conidiation are downregulated significantly in the null mutant during asexual development. VadH also participates in regulating the genes, , and , etc., related to sexual development, and some of the genes in the ST biosynthetic gene cluster. In summary, VadH is a putative transcription factor with four C H finger domains and is involved in regulating asexual/sexual development, osmotic stress response, and ST production in .
ISSN:2073-4409