Pyruvate Accumulation Is the First Line of Cell Defense against Heat Stress in a Fungus.

ABSTRACT: Heat tolerance is well known to be key to fungal survival in many habitats, but our mechanistic understanding of how organisms adapt to heat stress is still incomplete. Using Metarhizium robertsii, an emerging model organism for assessing evolutionary processes, we report that pyruvate is in the vanguard of molecules that scavenge heat-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS). We show that, as well as inducing a rapid burst of ROS production, heat stress also downregulates genes for pyruvate consumption. The accumulating pyruvate is the fastest acting of several M. robertsii ROS scavengers, efficiently reducing protein carbonylation, stabilizing mitochondrial membrane potential, and promoting fungal growth. The acetate produced from pyruvate-ROS reactions itself causes acid stre

SUBMITTER: Zhang X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5587913 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature