• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.165-170
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• 2013

The SCO3388 gene from Streptomyces coelicolor is homologous to tmrB, the tunicamycin resistance gene of Bacillus subtilis. The SCO3388-inactivation strain (SY-tbl-1) was generated by replacing SCO3388 with thiostrepton resistance gene. Spores of S. coelicolor derivatives were prepared on mannitol-soy flour (MS) agar on which SY-tbl-1 displayed no significant defect in growth and development. When plated on R4 agar, spores of SYtbl-1 displayed retardation in growth and sporulation, whereas its mycelium gave rise to normal growth. Thus, SCO3388 is suggested to be involved in the dormant spore germination. Expression of SCO3388 under the ermE1 promoter restored but only partially the ability to sporulate in SY-tbl-1. Neither SY-tbl-1 nor SY-tbl-1/ermE1p-SCO3388 showed a difference in tunicamycin resistance to the wild type whereas, interestingly, the introduction of ermE1p-SCO3388 dramatically enhanced spore survival to heat and detergent treatments, suggesting that SCO3388 might play a role in the maintenance of spore cell wall integrity.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.75-81
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• 1976

High ionic strength is expected to enhance dissociation of Ca-DPA from spores and to contribute to a detrimental effect on spore stability or on spore heat resistance with a combined treatment of gamma-radiation. From this study, this hypothesis has become apparent as as follows; 1) Ca-DPA dissociation contributes to loss of stability of bacterial spores with respect to heat resistance, survival during storage, and 2) the cytoplasmic membrane plays a role in maintaining the stability of DPA-Ca-spore complex, apparently by serving as a permeability barrier.

• 한국균학회소식:학술대회논문집
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• 2014.10a
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• pp.15-15
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• 2014

Fusarium graminearum (teleomorph Gibberella zeae) is an important plant pathogen that causes head blight of major cereal crops such as wheat, barley, and rice, as well as causing ear and stalk rot on maize worldwide. Plant diseases caused by this fungus lead to severe yield losses and accumulation of harmful mycotoxins in infected cereals [1]. Fungi utilize spore production as a mean to rapidly avoid unfavorable environmental conditions and to amplify their population. Spores are produced sexually and asexually and their production is precisely controlled. Upstream developmental activators consist of fluffy genes have been known to orchestrate early induction of condiogenesis in a model filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans. To understand the molecular mechanisms underlying conidiogenesis in F. graminearum, we characterized functions of the F. graminearum fluffy gene homologs [2]. We found that FlbD is conserved regulatory function for conidiogenesis in both A. nidulans and F. graminearum among five fluffy gene homologs. flbD deletion abolished conidia and perithecia production, suggesting that FlbD have global roles in hyphal differentiation processes in F. graminearum. We further identified and functionally characterized the ortholog of AbaA, which is involved in differentiation from vegetative hyphae to conidia and known to be absent in F. graminearum [3]. Deletion of abaA did not affect vegetative growth, sexual development, or virulence, but conidium production was completely abolished and thin hyphae grew from abnormally shaped phialides in abaA deletion mutants. Overexpression of abaA resulted in pleiotropic defects such as impaired sexual and asexual development, retarded conidium germination, and reduced trichothecene production. AbaA localized to the nuclei of phialides and terminal cells of mature conidia. Successful interspecies complementation using A. nidulans AbaA and the conserved AbaA-WetA pathway demonstrated that the molecular mechanisms responsible for AbaA activity are conserved in F. graminearum as they are in A. nidulans. F. graminearum ortholog of Aspergillus nidulans wetA has been shown to be involved in conidiogenesis and conidium maturation [4]. Deletion of F. graminearum wetA did not alter mycelial growth, sexual development, or virulence, but the wetA deletion mutants produced longer conidia with fewer septa, and the conidia were sensitive to acute stresses, such as oxidative stress and heat stress. Furthermore, the survival rate of aged conidia from the F. graminearum wetA deletion mutants was reduced. The wetA deletion resulted in vigorous generation of single-celled conidia through autophagy-dependent microcycle conidiation, indicating that WetA functions to maintain conidia dormancy by suppressing microcycle conidiation in F. graminearum. In A. nidulans, FlbB physically interacts with FlbD and FlbE, and the resulting FlbB/FlbE and FlbB/FlbD complexes induce the expression of flbD and brlA, respectively. BrlA is an activator of the AbaA-WetA pathway. AbaA and WetA are required for phialide formation and conidia maturation, respectively [5]. In F. graminearum, the AbaA-WetA pathway is similar to that of A. nidulans, except a brlA ortholog does not exist. Amongst the fluffy genes, only fgflbD has a conserved role for regulation of the AbaA-WetA pathway.