Title |
The velvet repressed vidA gene plays a key role in governing development in Aspergillus nidulans |
Author |
Min-Ju Kim1, Won-Hee Jung1, Ye-Eun Son1, Jae-Hyuk Yu2,3, Mi-Kyung Lee4, and Hee-Soo Park1* |
Address |
1School of Food Science and Biotechnology, Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Republic of Korea, 2Departments of Bacteriology and Genetics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA, 3Department of Systems Biotechnology, Konkuk University, Seoul 05029, Republic of Korea, 4Biological Resource Center (BRC), Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB), Jeongeup 56212, Republic of Korea |
Bibliography |
Journal of Microbiology, 57(10),893–899, 2019,
|
DOI |
10.1007/s12275-019-9214-4
|
Key Words |
asexual development, velvet, beta-glucan, Aspergillus
nidulans |
Abstract |
Fungal development is regulated by a variety of transcription
factors in Aspergillus nidulans. Previous studies demonstrated
that the NF-κB type velvet transcription factors regulate certain
target genes that govern fungal differentiation and cellular
metabolism. In this study, we characterize one of the
VosA/VelB-inhibited developmental genes called vidA, which
is predicted to encode a 581-amino acid protein with a C2H2
zinc finger domain at the C-terminus. Levels of vidA mRNA
are high during the early and middle phases of asexual development
and decrease during the late phase of asexual development
and asexual spore (conidium) formation. Deletion
of either vosA or velB results in increased vidA mRNA accumulation
in conidia, suggesting that vidA transcript accumulation
in conidia is repressed by VosA and VelB. Phenotypic
analysis demonstrated that deletion of vidA causes decreased
colony growth, reduced production of asexual spores,
and abnormal formation of sexual fruiting bodies. In addition,
the vidA deletion mutant conidia contain more trehalose
and β-glucan than wild type. Overall, these results suggest
that VidA is a putative transcription factor that plays a
key role in governing proper fungal growth, asexual and sexual
development, and conidia formation in A. nidulans. |