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The conserved and divergent roles of carbonic anhydrases in the filamentous fungi Aspergillus fumigatus and Aspergillus nidulans
Author(s) -
Han KapHoon,
Chun YoonHee,
De Castro Pimentel Figueiredo Bárbara,
Soriani Frederico Marianetti,
Savoldi Marcela,
Almeida Agostinho,
Rodrigues Fernando,
Cairns Charlie Timothy,
Bignell Elaine,
Tobal Jaqueline Moisés,
Goldman Maria Helena S.,
Kim JongHwan,
Bahn YongSun,
Goldman Gustavo Henrique,
Da Silva Ferreira Márcia Eliana
Publication year - 2010
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 - 10.1111/j.1365-2958.2010.07058.x
Subject(s) - aspergillus nidulans , aspergillus fumigatus , biology , mutant , microbiology and biotechnology , conidiation , fungal protein , gene , virulence , phenotype , biochemistry
Summary Carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and its hydration product bicarbonate (HCO 3 ‐ ) are essential molecules in various physiological processes of all living organisms. The reversible interconversion between CO 2 and HCO 3 ‐ is in equilibrium. This reaction is slow without catalyst, but can be rapidly facilitated by Zn 2+ ‐metalloenzymes named carbonic anhydrases (CAs). To gain an insight into the function of multiple clades of fungal CA, we chose to investigate the filamentous fungi Aspergillus fumigatus and A. nidulans . We identified four and two CAs in A. fumigatus and A. nidulans , respectively, named cafA‐D and canA‐B . The cafA and cafB genes are constitutively, strongly expressed whereas cafC and cafD genes are weakly expressed but CO 2 ‐inducible. Heterologous expression of the A. fumigatus cafB , and A. nidulans canA and canB genes completely rescued the high CO 2 ‐requiring phenotype of a Saccharomyces cerevisiae Δ nce103 mutant. Only the Δ cafA Δ cafB and Δ canB deletion mutants were unable to grow at 0.033% CO 2 , of which growth defects can be restored by high CO 2 . Defects in the CAs can affect Aspergilli conidiation. Furthermore, A. fumigatus Δ cafA , Δ cafB , Δ cafC , Δ cafD and Δ cafA Δ cafB mutant strains are fully virulent in a low‐dose murine infection.