title: A Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein is involved in endocytosis in Aspergillus nidulans.
abstract: Endocytosis is vital for hyphal tip growth in filamentous fungi and is involved in the tip localization of various membrane proteins. To investigate the function of a Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein (WASP) in endocytosis of filamentous fungi, we identified a WASP ortholog-encoding gene, wspA, in Aspergillus nidulans and characterized it. The wspA product, WspA, localized to the tips of germ tubes during germination and actin rings in the subapical regions of mature hyphae. wspA is essential for the growth and functioned in the polarity establishment and maintenance during germination of conidia. We also investigated its function in endocytosis and revealed that endocytosis of SynA, a synaptobrevin ortholog that is known to be endocytosed at the subapical regions of hyphal tips in A. nidulans, did not occur when wspA expression was repressed. These results suggest that WspA plays roles in endocytosis at hyphal tips and polarity establishment during germination.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Biotechnology , The University of Tokyo , Tokyo , Japan.
authors.forename: Hiro-Omi
authors.initials: HO
authors.lastname: Hoshi
authors.affiliation: a Department of Biotechnology , The University of Tokyo , Tokyo , Japan.
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: a Department of Biotechnology , The University of Tokyo , Tokyo , Japan.
authors.forename: Akinori
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ohta
authors.affiliation: a Department of Biotechnology , The University of Tokyo , Tokyo , Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Horiuchi
mesh_terms: D001233:Aspergillus nidulans / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D017124:Conserved Sequence / Q000235:genetics; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000235:genetics; D004705:Endocytosis / Q000235:genetics*; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D018525:Germination / Q000235:genetics; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D025301:Hyphae / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development; D013172:Spores, Fungal / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development; D051316:Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome Protein / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D005656:Fungal Proteins; D051316:Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome Protein; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins
keywords: Aspergillus; Wiskott–Aldrich syndrome protein (WASP); endocytosis; polarity establishment; polarity maintenance