Calcineurin subunit B is required for normal vegetative growth in Neurospora crassa.
A series of Neurospora crassa mutants affected in the ability to regulate entry into conidiation (an asexual developmental program) were isolated by using an insertional mutagenesis procedure followed by a screening protocol. One of the mutants isolated by this approach consisted entirely of cells with an abnormal morphology. The mutant produces chains of swollen septated cells. The developmentally regulated ccg-1 gene is constitutively expressed in these cells, suggesting that they have entered the conidial developmental program. The insertionally disrupted gene cnb-1 was isolated by plasmid rescue and found to encode calcineurin B, the regulatory subunit of the Ca2+ and calmodulin-dependent protein phosphatase calcineurin. The data demonstrate that calcineurin B is required for normal vegetative growth in N. crassa and suggest that the cnb-1 mutant is unable to repress entry into the asexual developmental program. The results suggest that Ca2+ may play an important role in regulating fungal morphology.
Kothe
G O
GO
Department of Biological Sciences, SUNY/Buffalo 14260-1300, USA.
Free
S J
SJ
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D019703:Calcineurin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D015966:Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional; D009492:Neurospora crassa / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
D019703:Calcineurin