title: The function of the three phosphoribosyl pyrophosphate synthetase (Prs) genes in hyphal growth and conidiation in Aspergillus nidulans.
abstract: Phosphoribosyl pyrophosphate synthetase, which is encoded by the Prs gene, catalyses the reaction of ribose-5-phosphate and adenine ribonucleotide triphosphate (ATP) and has central importance in cellular metabolism. However, knowledge about how Prs family members function and contribute to total 5-phosphoribosyl-α-1-pyrophosphate (PRPP) synthetase activity is limited. In this study, we identified that the filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans genome contains three PRPP synthase-homologous genes (AnprsA, AnprsB and AnprsC), among which AnprsB and AnprsC but not AnprsA are auxotrophic genes. Transcriptional expression profiles revealed that the mRNA levels of AnprsA, AnprsB and AnprsC are dynamic during germination, hyphal growth and sporulation and that they all showed abundant expression during the vigorous hyphal growth time point. Inhibiting the expression of AnprsB or AnprsC in conditional strains produced more effects on the total PRPP synthetase activity than did inhibiting AnprsA, thus indicating that different AnPrs proteins are unequal in their contributions to Prs enzyme activity. In addition, the constitutive overexpression of AnprsA or AnprsC could significantly rescue the defective phenotype of the AnprsB-absent strain, suggesting that the function of AnprsB is not a specific consequence of this auxotrophic gene but instead comes from the contribution of Prs proteins to PRPP synthetase activity.
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Microbes and Functional Genomics, Jiangsu Engineering and Technology Research Center for Microbiology, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, PR China.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Microbes and Functional Genomics, Jiangsu Engineering and Technology Research Center for Microbiology, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, PR China.
authors.forename: Wen-Fan
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Department of Hygiene Analysis and Detection, School of Public Health, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 211166, PR China.
authors.forename: Guo-Wei
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Microbes and Functional Genomics, Jiangsu Engineering and Technology Research Center for Microbiology, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Gang
authors.initials: XG
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Microbes and Functional Genomics, Jiangsu Engineering and Technology Research Center for Microbiology, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, PR China.
authors.forename: Wei-Ran
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Qiao
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) - South Campus Institute for Applied Biosciences, Karlsruhe, Germany.
authors.forename: Reinhard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fisher
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Microbes and Functional Genomics, Jiangsu Engineering and Technology Research Center for Microbiology, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, PR China.
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lu
mesh_terms: D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate / Q000737:chemistry; D001233:Aspergillus nidulans / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D017353:Gene Deletion; D055786:Gene Knockout Techniques; D025301:Hyphae / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*; D010754:Phosphoribosyl Pyrophosphate / Q000096:biosynthesis; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D012268:Ribose-Phosphate Pyrophosphokinase / Q000235:genetics*; D012267:Ribosemonophosphates / Q000737:chemistry; D013172:Spores, Fungal / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*
chemical_list: D012333:RNA, Messenger; D012267:Ribosemonophosphates; C031626:ribose-5-phosphate; D010754:Phosphoribosyl Pyrophosphate; D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate; D012268:Ribose-Phosphate Pyrophosphokinase