Vesicle trafficking, organelle functions, and unconventional secretion in fungal physiology and pathogenicity.
Specific localization of appropriate sets of proteins and lipids is central to functions and integrity of organelles, which in turn underlie cellular activities of eukaryotes. Vesicle trafficking is a conserved mechanism of intracellular transport, which ensures such a specific localization to a subset of organelles. In this review article, we summarize recent advances in our understanding of how vesicle trafficking and related organelles support physiology and pathogenicity of filamentous fungi. Examples include a link between Golgi organization and polarity maintenance during hyphal tip growth, a new role of early endosomes in transport of translational machinery, involvement of endosomal/vacuolar compartments in secondary metabolite synthesis, and functions of vacuoles and autophagy in fungal development, nutrient recycling and allocation. Accumulating evidence showing the importance of unconventional secretion in fungal pathogenicity is also summarized.
Department of Biotechnology, The University of Tokyo, 1-1-1 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan.
Jun-ya
JY
Shoji
Department of Biotechnology, The University of Tokyo, 1-1-1 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan.
Takashi
T
Kikuma
Department of Biotechnology, The University of Tokyo, 1-1-1 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan. Electronic address: akitamo@mail.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp.
Katsuhiko
K
Kitamoto
D022162:Cytoplasmic Vesicles / Q000378:metabolism*; D004721:Endoplasmic Reticulum / Q000378:metabolism*; D005658:Fungi / Q000378:metabolism / Q000472:pathogenicity* / Q000502:physiology*