Hrk1 plays both Hog1-dependent and -independent roles in controlling stress response and antifungal drug resistance in Cryptococcus neoformans.

ABSTRACT: The HOG (High Osmolarity Glycerol response) pathway plays a central role in controlling stress response, ergosterol biosynthesis, virulence factor production, and differentiation of Cryptococcus neoformans, which causes fatal fungal meningoencephalitis. Recent transcriptome analysis of the HOG pathway discovered a Hog1-regulated gene (CNAG_00130.2), encoding a putative protein kinase orthologous to Rck1/2 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Srk1 in Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Its function is not known in C. neoformans. The present study functionally characterized the role of Hrk1 in C. neoformans. Northern blot analysis confirmed that HRK1 expression depends on the Hog1 MAPK. Similar to the hog1Δ mutant, the hrk1Δ mutant exhibited almost complete resistance to fludioxonil, which triggers glycer

SUBMITTER: Kim SY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3076434 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature