Accumulation of stress and inducer-dependent plant-cell-wall-degrading enzymes during asexual development in Aspergillus nidulans.
Determination and interpretation of fungal gene expression profiles based on digital reconstruction of expressed sequenced tags (ESTs) are reported. A total of 51,524 DNA sequence files processed with PipeOnline resulted in 9775 single and 5660 contig unique ESTs, 31.2% of a typical fungal transcriptome. Half of the unique ESTs shared homology with genes in public databases, 35.8% of which are functionally defined and 64.2% are unclear or unknown. In Aspergillus nidulans 86% of transcripts associate with intermediate metabolism functions, mainly related to carbohydrate, amino acid, protein, and peptide biosynthesis. During asexual development, A. nidulans unexpectedly accumulates stress response and inducer-dependent transcripts in the absence of an inducer. Stress response genes in A. nidulans ESTs total 1039 transcripts, contrasting with 117 in Neurospora crassa, a 14.3-fold difference. A total of 5.6% of A. nidulans ESTs implicate inducer-dependent cell wall degradation or amino acid acquisition, 3.5-fold higher than in N. crassa. Accumulation of stress response and inducer-dependent transcripts suggests general derepression of cis-regulation during terminal asexual development.
Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma 74078-3020, USA. prade@okstate.edu
R A
RA
Prade
P
P
Ayoubi
S
S
Krishnan
S
S
Macwana
H
H
Russell
D001233:Aspergillus nidulans / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000502:physiology*; D002473:Cell Wall / Q000378:metabolism*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D016208:Databases, Factual; D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags; D005800:Genes, Fungal / Q000235:genetics*; D008954:Models, Biological; D008957:Models, Genetic; D009492:Neurospora crassa / Q000235:genetics; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D012098:Reproduction / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
D012333:RNA, Messenger