The isolation of FOS-1, a gene encoding a putative two-component histidine kinase from Aspergillus fumigatus.
In fungi, two-component histidine kinases are involved in response mechanisms to extracellular changes in osmolarity, resistance to dicarboximide fungicides, and cell-wall assembly. In the human opportunistic fungus, Candida albicans, each of the three histidine kinases plays a role in virulence. Here, we identify, for the first time, a gene, FOS-1, from the human pathogenic fungus Aspergillus fumigatus that predicts a protein with homology to two-component histidine kinases. The predicted FOS-1 protein is highly homologous to bacterial and other fungal histidine kinases in several functional domains, but is divergent at the amino- and carboxy-termini. A mutant lacking the FOS-1 locus, DeltaFOS-1, did not exhibit a detectable defect in either hyphal growth or morphology when grown on solid or liquid medium. However, in liquid medium, conidiophore development of the DeltaFOS-1 mutant was delayed. Compared to wild type, the DeltaFOS-1 strain was neither osmotically sensitive nor sensitive or resistant to a number of nondicarboximide antifungal drugs, but was highly resistant to dicarboximide fungicides and resistant to novozym 234, suggesting that FOS-1p may play a role in the regulation of cell-wall assembly.
Pott
G B
GB
Department of Cellular and Structural Biology, MycoLogics, Inc., B-111, 4200 E. Ninth Avenue, Denver, Colorado 80262, USA.
Miller
T K
TK
Bartlett
J A
JA
Palas
J S
JS
Selitrennikoff
C P
CP
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D001232:Aspergillus fumigatus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D005656:Fungal Proteins; D017353:Gene Deletion; D005800:Genes, Fungal; D000071677:Histidine Kinase; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010641:Phenotype; D011494:Protein Kinases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
D000935:Antifungal Agents; D004271:DNA, Fungal; D005656:Fungal Proteins; D011494:Protein Kinases; D000071677:Histidine Kinase; C427183:FOS-1 protein, Aspergillus fumigatus