Project description:A flucytosine-responsive APSES protein, Mbs1, plays pleiotropic roles in stress response, differentiation, and virulence of Cryptococcus neoformans
Project description:A family of APSES transcription factor is known to be fungal-specific transcriptional regulators and play important roles in governing growth, differentiation, and virulence of diverse fungal pathogens. Yet none of APSES-like transcription factors have been identified and investigated in a basidiomycetous fungal pathogen, Cryptococcus neoformans. In the present study we discovered an APSES-like transcription factor, mbs1 (Mbp1/Swi4-like APSES protein 1), as one of novel flucytosine-responsive genes (total 194 genes) identified through comparative transcriptome analysis of C. neoformans hybrid sensor kinase mutants, tco1 and tco2 mutants, which displayed differential flucytosine-susceptibility. Supporting the microarray data, Northern blot and quantitative RT-PCR analysis confirmed that expression of mbs1 is rapidly induced in response to flucytosine in the wild-type strain, but not in the tco1 and tco2 mutants. Furthermore, C. neoformans with deletion of the mbs1 gene exhibited increased susceptibility to flucytosine. Intriguingly, mbs1 plays pleiotropic roles in diverse cellular process of C. neoformans. mbs1 positively regulates ergosterol biosynthesis and thereby its inhibition confers increased susceptibility and resistance to amphotericin B and azole drugs, respectively. mbs1 is also involved in DNA damage repair counteracting genotoxic stresses. During sexual differentiation mbs1 represses pheromone production, but promotes cell-cell fusion. Furthermore mbs1 is required for production of antioxidant melanin pigment and full virulence of C. neoformans. Finally we also performed DNA microarrray analysis to identify mbs1-regulated genes in C. neoformans. A majority of them were found to be involved in cell cycle regulation and DNA repair. Therefore, this study provides a novel antifungal therapeutic method for treatment of cryptococcosis.
Project description:We measured protein translation (by ribosome profiling) and RNA levels (by polyA-enriched RNA-seq) in Cryptococcus neoformans strain H99 and Cryptococcus neoformans strain JEC21. This is the first transcriptome-wide map of translation in this species complex.
Project description:Background The sphingolipid Glucosylceramide (GlcCer) and factors involved in the fungal GlcCer pathways were shown earlier to be an integral part of fungal virulence, especially in fungal replication at 37°C, in neutral/alkaline pH and 5% CO2 environments (e.g. alveolar spaces). Two mutants (null mutants’ delta-gcs1 and delta-smt1 lacking glucosylceramide synthase 1 gene and C9 sphingolipid methyltransferase 1 gene respectively) of this pathway were attenuated in virulence and have a growth defect at the above-mentioned conditions. These mutants with either no or structurally modified GlcCer located on the cell-membrane have reduced membrane rigidity, which may have altered not only the physical location of membrane proteins but also their expression, as the pathogen’s mode of adaptation to changing need. Importantly, pathogens are known to adapt themselves to the changing host environments by altering their patterns of gene expression. Results By transcriptional analysis of gene expression, we identified six genes whose expression was changed from their wild-type counterpart grown in the same conditions, i.e they became either down regulated or up regulated in these two mutants. The microarray data was validated by real-time PCR, which confirmed their fold change in gene expression. The 6 genes we identified, viz siderochrome-iron transporter (CNAG_02083), monosaccharide transporter (CNAG_05340), glucose transporter (CNAG_03772), membrane protein (CNAG_03912), membrane transport protein (CNAG_00539), and sugar transporter (CNAG_06963), all of which are membrane-localized and have significantly altered gene expression levels. Therefore, we speculate that these genes function either independently or in tandem with a structurally modified cell wall/plasma membrane resulting from the modifications of the GlcCer pathway and thus possibly disrupt trans membrane signaling complex, which in turn contributes to Cryptococcal osmotic, pH, ion homeostasis and its pathobiology. Conclusion Gene expression microarrays identified 6 genes by gene set enrichment analysis and validated by qRT-PCR, which are involved in the trans membrane signaling network in Cryptococcus neoformans, controlling the rigidity of the membrane in neutral-alkaline pH and therefore the pathobiology of the fungus in these conditions.