title: The STE20/germinal center kinase POD6 interacts with the NDR kinase COT1 and is involved in polar tip extension in Neurospora crassa.
abstract: Members of the Ste20 and NDR protein kinase families are important for normal cell differentiation and morphogenesis in various organisms. We characterized POD6 (NCU02537.2), a novel member of the GCK family of Ste20 kinases that is essential for hyphal tip extension and coordinated branch formation in the filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa. pod-6 and the NDR kinase mutant cot-1 exhibit indistinguishable growth defects, characterized by cessation of cell elongation, hyperbranching, and altered cell-wall composition. We suggest that POD6 and COT1 act in the same genetic pathway, based on the fact that both pod-6 and cot-1 can be suppressed by 1) environmental stresses, 2) altering protein kinase A activity, and 3) common extragenic suppressors (ropy, as well as gul-1, which is characterized here as the ortholog of the budding and fission yeasts SSD1 and Sts5, respectively). Unlinked noncomplementation of cot-1/pod-6 alleles indicates a potential physical interaction between the two kinases, which is further supported by coimmunoprecipitation analyses, partial colocalization of both proteins in wild-type cells, and their common mislocalization in dynein/kinesin mutants. We conclude that POD6 acts together with COT1 and is essential for polar cell extension in a kinesin/dynein-dependent manner in N. crassa.
authors.affiliation: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Research Center of Molecular Physiology of the Brain (CMPB), Abteilung Molekulare Mikrobiologie, Universität Göttingen, D-37077 Göttingen, Germany. sseiler@gwdg.de
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Seiler
authors.forename: Nico
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Vogt
authors.forename: Carmit
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ziv
authors.forename: Rena
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gorovits
authors.forename: Oded
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Yarden
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D020134:Catalytic Domain; D016764:Cell Polarity / Q000187:drug effects; D017868:Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D000081410:Germinal Center Kinases; D025301:Hyphae / Q000166:cytology; D008870:Microtubules / Q000378:metabolism; D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D009492:Neurospora crassa / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000201:enzymology*; D010641:Phenotype; D011485:Protein Binding / Q000187:drug effects; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D021381:Protein Transport / Q000187:drug effects; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D005656:Fungal Proteins; D000081410:Germinal Center Kinases; D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins; D012965:Sodium Chloride; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D017868:Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases