Long Terminal Repeat Retrotransposon Afut4 Promotes Azole Resistance of Aspergillus fumigatus by Enhancing the Expression of sac1 Gene.

ABSTRACT: Aspergillus fumigatus causes a series of invasive diseases, including the high-mortality invasive aspergillosis, and has been a serious global health threat because of its increased resistance to the first-line clinical triazoles. We analyzed the whole-genome sequence of 15 A. fumigatus strains from China and found that long terminal repeat retrotransposons (LTR-RTs), including Afut1, Afut2, Afut3, and Afut4, are most common and have the largest total nucleotide length among all transposable elements in A. fumigatus. Deleting one of the most enriched Afut4_977-sac1 in azole-resistant strains decreased azole resistance and downregulated its nearby gene, sac1, but it did not significantly affect the expression of genes of the ergosterol synthesis

SUBMITTER: Hu M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8597758 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature