A Velvet Transcription Factor Specifically Activates Mating through a Novel Mating-Responsive Protein in the Human Fungal Pathogen Cryptococcus deneoformans.

ABSTRACT: Sexual reproduction facilitates infection by the production of both a lineage advantage and infectious sexual spores in the ubiquitous human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus deneoformans. However, the regulatory determinants specific for initiating mating remain poorly understood. Here, we identified a velvet family regulator, Cva1, that strongly promotes sexual reproduction in C. deneoformans. This regulation was determined to be specific, based on a comprehensive phenotypic analysis of cva1Δ under 26 distinct in vitro and in vivo growth conditions. We further revealed that Cva1 plays a critical role in the initiation of early mating events, including sexual cell-cell fusion, but is not important for the late sexual development stages or meiosis. Thus, Cva1 specifically c

SUBMITTER: Liu H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9241590 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature