A putative G protein‐coupled receptor negatively controls sexual development in Aspergillus nidulans

Summary G protein‐coupled receptors (GPCRs) are key components of heterotrimeric G protein‐mediated signalling pathways that detect environmental signals and confer rapid cellular responses. To broaden our understanding of signalling mechanisms in the filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans, intensi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Molecular microbiology 2004-03, Vol.51 (5), p.1333-1345
Main Authors: Han, Kap‐Hoon, Seo, Jeong‐Ah, Yu, Jae‐Hyuk
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amino Acid Sequence
Animals
Aspergillus nidulans
Aspergillus nidulans - cytology
Aspergillus nidulans - genetics
Aspergillus nidulans - growth & development
Aspergillus nidulans - physiology
Biological and medical sciences
Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases - metabolism
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Fungal Proteins - genetics
Fungal Proteins - metabolism
Genes, Fungal
Heterotrimeric GTP-Binding Proteins - metabolism
Microbiology
Miscellaneous
Molecular Sequence Data
Mutation
Mycology
Phenotype
Phylogeny
Protein Kinase C - metabolism
Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled - classification
Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled - genetics
Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled - metabolism
Sequence Alignment
Signal Transduction - physiology
Temperature
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Summary:Summary G protein‐coupled receptors (GPCRs) are key components of heterotrimeric G protein‐mediated signalling pathways that detect environmental signals and confer rapid cellular responses. To broaden our understanding of signalling mechanisms in the filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans, intensive analyses of the Aspergillus nidulans genome have been carried out and nine genes (gprA∼gprI) that are predicted to encode seven transmembrane spanning GPCRs have been identified. Six of nine putative GPCRs have been disrupted and the gprD gene was found to play a central role in coordinating hyphal growth and sexual development. Deletion of gprD (ΔgprD) causes extremely restricted hyphal growth, delayed conidial germination and uncontrolled activation of sexual development resulting in a small colony covered by sexual fruiting bodies. Genetic studies indicate that GprD may not signal through the FadA (Gα)‐protein kinase A (PKA) pathway. Elimination of sexual development rescues both growth and developmental abnormalities caused by ΔgprD, suggesting that the primary role of GprD is to negatively regulate sexual development. This is supported by the fact that environmental conditions inhibiting sexual development suppress growth defects of the ΔgprD mutant. We propose that the GprD‐mediated signalling cascade negatively regulates sexual development, which is required for proper proliferation of A. nidulans.
ISSN:0950-382X
1365-2958
DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2958.2003.03940.x