Browse > Article
http://dx.doi.org/10.4489/MYCO.2010.38.4.229

Regulation of Development in Aspergillus nidulans and Aspergillus fumigatus  

Yu, Jae-Hyuk (Department of Bacteriology and Genetics, University of Wisconsin-Madison)
Publication Information
Mycobiology / v.38, no.4, 2010 , pp. 229-237 More about this Journal
Abstract
Members of the genus Aspergillus are the most common fungi and all reproduce asexually by forming long chains of conidiospores (or conidia). The impact of various Aspergillus species on humans ranges from beneficial to harmful. For example, several species including Aspergillus oryzae and Aspergillus niger are used in industry for enzyme production and food processing. In contrast, Aspergillus flavus produce the most potent naturally present carcinogen aflatoxins, which contaminate various plant- and animal-based foods. Importantly, the opportunistic human pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus has become the most prevalent airborne fungal pathogen in developed countries, causing invasive aspergillosis in immunocompromised patients with a high mortality rate. A. fumigatus produces a massive number of small hydrophobic conidia as the primarymeans of dispersal, survival, genome-protection, and infecting hosts. Large-scale genome-wide expression studies can now be conducted due to completion of A. fumigatus genome sequencing. However, genomics becomes more powerful and informative when combined with genetics. We have been investigating the mechanisms underlying the regulation of asexual development (conidiation) and gliotoxin biosynthesis in A. fumigatus, primarily focusing on a characterization of key developmental regulators identified in the model fungus Aspergillus nidulans. In this review, I will summarize our current understanding of how conidiation in two aspergilli is regulated.
Keywords
Aspergillus; Conidiation; Gliotoxin; Fungi; Transcription factors;
Citations & Related Records
연도 인용수 순위
  • Reference
1 Kwon NJ, Shin KS, Yu JH. Characterization of the developmental regulator FlbE in Aspergillus fumigatus and Aspergillus nidulans. Fungal Genet Biol 2010;47:981-93.   DOI   ScienceOn
2 Andrianopoulos A, Timberlake WE. ATTS, a new and conserved DNA binding domain. Plant Cell 1991;3:747-8.   DOI   ScienceOn
3 Andrianopoulos A, Timberlake WE. The Aspergillus nidulans abaA gene encodes a transcriptional activator that acts as a genetic switch to control development. Mol Cell Biol 1994;14:2503-15.   DOI
4 Aramayo R, Timberlake WE. The Aspergillus nidulans yA gene is regulated by abaA. EMBO J 1993;12:2039-48.
5 Park BC, Park YH, Park HM. Activation of chsC transcription by AbaA during asexual development of Aspergillus nidulans. FEMS Microbiol Lett 2003;220:241-6.   DOI   ScienceOn
6 Marshall MA, Timberlake WE. Aspergillus nidulans wetA activates spore-specific gene expression. Mol Cell Biol 1991;11:55-62.   DOI
7 Sewall TC, Mims CW, Timberlake WE. Conidium differentiation in Aspergillus nidulans wild-type and wet-white (wetA) mutant strains. Dev Biol 1990;138:499-508.   DOI   ScienceOn
8 Fillinger S, Chaveroche MK, van Dijck P, de Vries R, Ruijter G, Thevelein J, d’Enfert C. Trehalose is required for the acquisition of tolerance to a variety of stresses in the filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans. Microbiology 2001;147(Pt 7):1851-62.   DOI
9 Thau N, Monod M, Crestani B, Rolland C, Tronchin G, Latge JP, Paris S. Rodletless mutants of Aspergillus fumigatus. Infect Immun 1994;62;4380-8.
10 Kim HS, Han KY, Kim KJ, Han DM, Jahng KY, Chae KS. The veA gene activates sexual development in Aspergillus nidulans. Fungal Genet Biol 2002;37:72-80.   DOI   ScienceOn
11 Xiao P, Shin KS, Wang T, Yu JH. Aspergillus fumigatus flbB encodes two basic leucine zipper domain (bZip) proteins required for proper asexual development and gliiotoxin production. Eukaryot Cell 2010;9:1711-23.   DOI   ScienceOn
12 Lee BN, Adams TH. The Aspergillus nidulans fluG gene is required for production of an extracellular developmental signal and is related to prokaryotic glutamine synthetase I. Genes Dev 1994;8:641-51.   DOI   ScienceOn
13 Bayram O, Krappmann S, Ni M, Bok JW, Helmstaedt K, Valerius O, Braus-Stromeyer S, Kwon NJ, Keller NP, Yu JH, et al. The VelB/VeA/LaeA complex coordinates light signal with fungal development and secondary metabolism. Science 2008;320:1504-6.   DOI   ScienceOn
14 Bok JW, Keller NP. LaeA, a regulator of secondary metabolism in Aspergillus spp. Eukaryot Cell 2004;3:527-35.   DOI
15 Dagenais TR, Keller NP. Pathogenesis of Aspergillus fumigatus in invasive aspergillosis. Clin Microbiol Rev 2009; 22:447-65.   DOI   ScienceOn
16 Denning DW. Invasive aspergillosis. Clin Infect Dis 1998; 26:781-803.   DOI   ScienceOn
17 Adams TH, Boylan MT, Timberlake WE. brlA is necessary and sufficient to direct conidiophore development in Aspergillus nidulans. Cell 1988;54:353-62.   DOI   ScienceOn
18 Mah JH, Yu JH. Upstream and downstream regulation of asexual development in Aspergillus fumigatus. Eukaryot Cell 2006;5:1585-95.   DOI   ScienceOn
19 Adams TH, Deising H, Timberlake WE. brlA requires both zinc fingers to induce development. Mol Cell Biol 1990; 10:1815-7.   DOI
20 Chang YC, Timberlake WE. Identification of Aspergillus brlA response elements (BREs) by genetic selection in yeast. Genetics 1993;133:29-38.
21 Ni M, Yu JH. A novel regulator couples sporogenesis and trehalose biogenesis in Aspergillus nidulans. PLoS One 2007;2:e970.   DOI
22 Clutterbuck AJ. A mutational analysis of conidial development in Aspergillus nidulans. Genetics 1969;63:317-27.
23 Sewall TC, Mims CW, Timberlake WE. abaA controls phialide differentiation in Aspergillus nidulans. Plant Cell 1990;2:731-9.   DOI   ScienceOn
24 Etxebeste O, Ni M, Garzia A, Kwon NJ, Fischer R, Yu JH, Espeso EA, Ugalde U. Basic-zipper-type transcription factor FlbB controls asexual development in Aspergillus nidulans. Eukaryot Cell 2008;7:38-48.   DOI   ScienceOn
25 Wieser J, Lee BN, Fondon JW 3rd, Adams TH. Genetic requirements for initiating asexual development in Aspergillus nidulans. Curr Genet 1994;27:62-9.   DOI
26 Wieser J, Adams TH. flbD encodes a Myb-like DNA binding protein that coordinates initiation of Aspergillus nidulans conidiophore development. Genes Dev 1995;9:491-502.   DOI   ScienceOn
27 Etxebeste O, Herrero-Garcia E, Araujo-Bazan L, Rodriguez-Urra AB, Garzia A, Ugalde U, Espeso EA. The bZIP-type transcription factor FlbB regulates distinct morphogenetic stages of colony formation in Aspergillus nidulans. Mol Microbiol 2009;73:775-89.   DOI   ScienceOn
28 Garzia A, Etxebeste O, Herrero-García E, Fischer R, Espeso EA, Ugalde U. Aspergillus nidulans FlbE is an upstream developmental activator of conidiation functionally associated with the putative transcription factor FlbB. Mol Microbiol 2009;71:172-84.   DOI   ScienceOn
29 Garzia A, Etxebeste O, Herrero-García E, Ugalde U, Espeso EA. The concerted action of bZip and cMyb transcription factors FlbB and FlbD induces brlA expression and asexual development in Aspergillus nidulans. Mol Microbiol 2010;75:1314-24.   DOI   ScienceOn
30 Kwon NJ, Garzia A, Espeso EA, Ugalde U, Yu JH. FlbC is a putative nuclear $C_2H_2$ transcription factor regulating development in Aspergillus nidulans. Mol Microbiol 2010;77:1203-19.   DOI   ScienceOn
31 Ebbole DJ. The Conidium. In: Borkovich KA, Ebbole DJ, editors. Cellular and molecular biology of filamentous fungi. Washington, DC: ASM Press; 2010. p. 577-90.
32 Boylan MT, Mirabito PM, Willett CE, Zimmerman CR, Timberlake WE. Isolation and physical characterization of three essential conidiation genes from Aspergillus nidulans. Mol Cell Biol 1987;7:3113-8.   DOI
33 Mirabito PM, Adams TH, Timberlake WE. Interactions of three sequentially expressed genes control temporal and spatial specificity in Aspergillus development. Cell 1989;57:859-68.   DOI   ScienceOn
34 Aguirre J. Spatial and temporal controls of the Aspergillus brlA developmental regulatory gene. Mol Microbiol 1993;8:211-8.   DOI   ScienceOn
35 Adams TH, Wieser JK, Yu JH. Asexual sporulation in Aspergillus nidulans. Microbiol Mol Biol Rev 1998;62:35-54.
36 Bennett JW. An overview of the genus Aspergillus. In: Machida M, Gomi K, editors. Aspergillus: molecular biology and genomics. Norfolk: Caister Academic Press; 2010. p. 1-17.
37 Ni M, Gao N, Kwon NJ, Shin KS, Yu JH. Regulation of Aspergillus conidiation. In: Borkovich KA, Ebbole DJ, editors. Cellular and molecular biology of filamentous fungi. Washington, DC: ASM Press; 2010. p. 559-76.
38 Yu JH, Mah JH, Seo JA. Growth and developmental control in the model and pathogenic Aspergilli. Eukaryot Cell 2006; 5:1577-84.   DOI   ScienceOn
39 Rhodes JC, Askew DS. Aspergillus fumigatus. In: Borkovich KA, Ebbole DJ, editors. Cellular and molecular biology of filamentous fungi. Washington, DC: ASM Press; 2010. p.697-716.
40 Mackenzie DW. Aspergillus in man. In: Vanden Bossche H, Mackenzie DW, Cauwenbergh G, editors. Aspergillus and aspergillosis. New York: Plenum Press; 1988. p. 1-8.
41 Tao L, Yu JH. AbaA and WetA govern distinct stages of Aspergillus fumigatus development. Microbiology-SGM 2010. DOI:10.1099/mic.0.044271-0.   DOI   ScienceOn