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Morphogenesis in Aspergillus nidulans requires Dopey (DopA), a member of a novel family of leucine zipper‐like proteins conserved from yeast to humans
Author(s) -
Pascon Renata Castiglioni,
Miller Bruce L.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
molecular microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.857
H-Index - 247
eISSN - 1365-2958
pISSN - 0950-382X
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2958.2000.01950.x
Subject(s) - biology , aspergillus nidulans , morphogenesis , leucine zipper , genetics , microbiology and biotechnology , protein family , fungal protein , multicellular organism , saccharomyces cerevisiae , mutant , yeast , gene , peptide sequence
DopA is the founding member of a novel protein family required for correct cell morphology and spatiotemporal organization of multicellular structures in the filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans . DopA homologues from Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Dop1), Candida albicans , Caenorhabditis elegans , Rattus norvegicus and Homo sapien s have been identified from genome sequencing projects. S. cerevisiae DOP1 is essential for viability and, like DopA, affects cellular morphogenesis. dopA encodes a large protein (207 kDa) containing several putative domains, including three leucine zipper‐like domains. Strains with either the temperature‐sensitive dopA 1 ts allele, which alters one of the leucine zippers, or the null Δ dopA allele, had abnormal morphology of the vegetative hyphae, delayed and asynchronous initiation of asexual development, aberrant morphogenesis of the conidiophore and an early block in the sexual cycle. The expression patterns of key transcriptional regulators of the asexual and sexual cycle ( brl A, aba A and ste A) are altered in a Δ dopA background, suggesting that DopA functions upstream in the developmental pathway. Double mutant analysis showed that dopA interacts genetically with constitutively active and inactive forms of A. nidulans Aras to modulate hyphal morphogenesis and asexual development.