Intracellular siderophores are essential for ascomycete sexual development in heterothallic Cochliobolus heterostrophus and homothallic Gibberella zeae.

ABSTRACT: Connections between fungal development and secondary metabolism have been reported previously, but as yet, no comprehensive analysis of a family of secondary metabolites and their possible role in fungal development has been reported. In the present study, mutant strains of the heterothallic ascomycete Cochliobolus heterostrophus, each lacking one of 12 genes (NPS1 to NPS12) encoding a nonribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS), were examined for a role in sexual development. One type of strain (Delta nps2) was defective in ascus/ascospore development in homozygous Delta nps2 crosses. Homozygous crosses of the remaining 11 Delta nps strains showed wild-type (WT) fertility. Phylogenetic, expression, and biochemical analyses demonstrated that the NRPS encoded by NPS2 is responsible for the biosy

SUBMITTER: Oide S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1951124 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature