title: Penicillium antifungal protein (PAF) is involved in the apoptotic and autophagic processes of the producer Penicillium chrysogenum.
abstract: PAF, which is produced by the filamentous fungus Pencicillium chrysogenum, is a small antifungal protein, triggering ROS-mediated apoptotic cell death in Aspergillus nidulans. In this work, we provide information on the function of PAF in the host P. chrysogenum considering that carbon-starving cultures of the Δpaf mutant strain showed significantly reduced apoptosis rates in comparison to the wild-type (wt) strain. Moreover, the addition of PAF to the Δpaf strain resulted in a twofold increase in the apoptosis rate. PAF was also involved in the regulation of the autophagy machinery of this fungus, since several Saccharomyces cerevisiae autophagy-related ortholog genes, e.g. those of atg7, atg22 and tipA, were repressed in the deletion strain. This phenomenon was accompanied by the absence of autophagosomes in the Δpaf strain, even in old hyphae.
authors.affiliation: University of Debrecen Department of Microbial Biotechnology and Cell Biology, Faculty of Science and Technology Debrecen Hungary.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kovács
authors.affiliation: University of Debrecen Department of Microbial Biotechnology and Cell Biology, Faculty of Science and Technology Debrecen Hungary.
authors.forename: Nikoletta
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hegedűs
authors.affiliation: University of Debrecen Department of Microbial Biotechnology and Cell Biology, Faculty of Science and Technology Debrecen Hungary.
authors.forename: Mihály
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bálint
authors.affiliation: University of Debrecen Department of Microbial Biotechnology and Cell Biology, Faculty of Science and Technology Debrecen Hungary.
authors.forename: Zsuzsa
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Szabó
authors.affiliation: University of Debrecen Department of Microbial Biotechnology and Cell Biology, Faculty of Science and Technology Debrecen Hungary.
authors.forename: Tamás
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Emri
authors.affiliation: University of Debrecen Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embriology, Faculty of Medicine Debrecen Hungary.
authors.forename: Gréta
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kiss
authors.affiliation: University of Debrecen Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embriology, Faculty of Medicine Debrecen Hungary.
authors.forename: Miklós
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Antal
authors.affiliation: University of Debrecen Department of Microbial Biotechnology and Cell Biology, Faculty of Science and Technology Debrecen Hungary.
authors.forename: István
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pócsi
authors.affiliation: University of Debrecen Department of Microbial Biotechnology and Cell Biology, Faculty of Science and Technology Debrecen Hungary.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Leiter
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis; D001343:Autophagy; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D010408:Penicillium chrysogenum / Q000166:cytology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D005656:Fungal Proteins
keywords: Penicillium antifungal protein (PAF); apoptosis; autophagy