Glycolipid intermembrane transfer is accelerated by HET-C2, a filamentous fungus gene product involved in the cell-cell incompatibility response.

ABSTRACT: Among filamentous fungi capable of mycelial growth, het genes play crucial roles by regulating heterokaryon formation between different individuals. When fusion occurs between fungal mycelia that differ genetically at their het loci, the resulting heterokaryotic cells are quickly destroyed. It is unclear how het gene products of Podospora anserina trigger heterokaryon incompatibility. One unexplored possibility is that glycosphingolipids play a role because the het-c2 gene encodes a protein that displays 32% sequence identity and an additional 30% similarity to the mammalian glycolipid transfer protein. Here, P. anserina protoplasts containing wild-type het-c2 genes were shown to have greater glycosphingolipid transfer activity than protoplasts with disrupted het-c2 genes, a condition prev

SUBMITTER: Mattjus P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2593802 | biostudies-literature | 2003 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature