The DEAD-box RNA helicase Vad1 regulates multiple virulence-associated genes in Cryptococcus neoformans.

ABSTRACT: The study of fungal regulatory networks is essential to the understanding of how these pathogens respond to host environmental signals with effective virulence-associated traits. In this study, a virulence-associated DEAD-box RNA helicase-encoding gene (VAD1) was isolated from a mutant defective in the virulence factor laccase. A Deltavad1 mutant exhibited a profound reduction in virulence in a mouse model that was restored after reconstitution with WT VAD1. Loss of VAD1 resulted in upregulation of NOT1, a gene encoding a global repressor of transcription. NOT1 was found to act as an intermediary transcriptional repressor of laccase. Vad1 was located within macromolecular complexes that formed cytoplasmic granular bodies in mature cells and during infection of mouse brain. In addition, VAD

SUBMITTER: Panepinto J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1051994 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature