The putative stress sensor protein MtlA is required for conidia formation, cell wall stress tolerance, and cell wall integrity in Aspergillus nidulans. Issue 2 (1st February 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Futagami, Taiki; Seto, Kazufumi; Kajiwara, Yasuhiro; Takashita, Hideharu; Omori, Toshiro; Takegawa, Kaoru; Goto, Masatoshi
• Is Part Of: Bioscience, biotechnology, and biochemistry. Volume 78:Issue 2(2014)
• Page Start: 326
• Page End: 335
• Publication Date: 2014-02-01
• Subjects: Aspergillus nidulans -- cell wall integrity -- stress sensor -- MtlA; Biotechnology -- Periodicals; Biochemistry -- Periodicals; 660.6
• DOI: 10.1080/09168451.2014.878218
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0916-8451

Abstract

Abstract: The Mid2-like protein MtlA is a putative sensor of the cell wall integrity (CWI) signaling pathway in Aspergillus nidulans . An MtlA-EGFP fusion protein was localized at the cell surface and septa. The mtlA disruptant (∆ mtlA ) showed radial colony growth similar to the wild-type (wt) strain, but showed reduced conidia formation. The ∆ mtlA mutant showed growth deficiency in the presence of inhibitors of cell wall synthesis. Moreover, mtlA disruption resulted in a reduction in the glucan and chitin content in the cell wall. These results suggest that MtlA plays a significant role in asexual sporulation, cell wall stress tolerance, and the maintenance of CWI in A. nidulans, but transcriptional upregulation of α-1, 3-glucan synthase gene agsB induced by micafungin was observed in the ∆ mtlA strain as well as the wt strain. Thus, MtlA is not essential for activation of the downstream CWI signaling pathway components identified in previous studies of Saccharomyces cerevisiae . Graphical abstract: : The MtlA is a putative sensor protein of the cell wall integrity signaling pathway and required for conidia formation and cell wall stress tolerance in Aspergillus nidulan