Autophagy is dispensable to overcome ER stress in the filamentous fungus Aspergillus niger.

ABSTRACT: Secretory proteins are subjected to stringent quality control systems in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) which include the targeting of misfolded proteins for proteasomal destruction via the ER-associated degradation (ERAD) pathway. Since deletion of ERAD genes in the filamentous fungus Aspergillus niger had hardly any effect on growth, this study investigates whether autophagy might function as an alternative process to eliminate misfolded proteins from the ER. We generated A. niger double mutants by deleting genes essential for ERAD (derA) and autophagy (atg1 or atg8), and assessed their growth both under normal and ER stress conditions. Sensitivity toward ER stress was examined by treatment with dithiothreitol (DTT) and by expressing a mutant form of glucoamylase (mtGlaA::GFP) in which d

SUBMITTER: Burggraaf AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4985598 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature