title: Signal transduction cascades regulating fungal development and virulence.
abstract: Cellular differentiation, mating, and filamentous growth are regulated in many fungi by environmental and nutritional signals. For example, in response to nitrogen limitation, diploid cells of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae undergo a dimorphic transition to filamentous growth referred to as pseudohyphal differentiation. Yeast filamentous growth is regulated, in part, by two conserved signal transduction cascades: a mitogen-activated protein kinase cascade and a G-protein regulated cyclic AMP signaling pathway. Related signaling cascades play an analogous role in regulating mating and virulence in the plant fungal pathogen Ustilago maydis and the human fungal pathogens Cryptococcus neoformans and Candida albicans. We review here studies on the signaling cascades that regulate development of these and other fungi. This analysis illustrates both how the model yeast S. cerevisiae can serve as a paradigm for signaling in other organisms and also how studies in other fungi provide insights into conserved signaling pathways that operate in many divergent organisms.
authors: Departments of Genetics, Pharmacology and Cancer Biology, Microbiology, and Medicine, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA.
authors: K B
authors: KB
authors: Lengeler
authors: R C
authors: RC
authors: Davidson
authors: C
authors: C
authors: D'souza
authors: T
authors: T
authors: Harashima
authors: W C
authors: WC
authors: Shen
authors: P
authors: P
authors: Wang
authors: X
authors: X
authors: Pan
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Waugh
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Heitman
mesh_terms: D019703:Calcineurin / Q000378:metabolism; D000242:Cyclic AMP / Q000378:metabolism; D017868:Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D005658:Fungi / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D020935:MAP Kinase Signaling System; D010675:Pheromones; D020239:Receptor Cross-Talk; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D010675:Pheromones; D014157:Transcription Factors; D000242:Cyclic AMP; D017868:Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases; D019703:Calcineurin; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins