A novel screening method for cell wall mutants in Aspergillus niger identifies UDP-galactopyranose mutase as an important protein in fungal cell wall biosynthesis.

ABSTRACT: To identify cell wall biosynthetic genes in filamentous fungi and thus potential targets for the discovery of new antifungals, we developed a novel screening method for cell wall mutants. It is based on our earlier observation that the Aspergillus niger agsA gene, which encodes a putative alpha-glucan synthase, is strongly induced in response to cell wall stress. By placing the agsA promoter region in front of a selectable marker, the acetamidase (amdS) gene of A. nidulans, we reasoned that cell wall mutants with a constitutively active cell wall stress response pathway could be identified by selecting mutants for growth on acetamide as the sole nitrogen source. For the genetic screen, a strain was constructed that contained two reporter genes controlled by the same promoter: the metabolic reporter gene PagsA-amdS and PagsA-H2B-GFP, which encodes a GFP-tagged nuclear protein. The primary screen yielded 161 mutants that were subjected to various cell wall-related secondary screens. Four calcofluor white-hypersensitive, osmotic-remediable thermosensitive mutants were selected for complementation analysis. Three mutants were complemented by the same gene, which encoded a protein with high sequence identity with eukaryotic UDP-galactopyranose mutases (UgmA). Our results indicate that galactofuranose formation is important for fungal cell wall biosynthesis and represents an attractive target for the development of antifungals.

SUBMITTER: Damveld RA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2248356 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature