title: Study on the glutathione metabolism of the filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans.
abstract: Yeast protein sequence-based homology search for glutathione (GSH) metabolic enzymes and GSH transporters demonstrated that Aspergillus nidulans has a robust GSH uptake and metabolic system with several paralogous genes. In wet laboratory experiments, two key genes of GSH metabolism, gcsA, and glrA, encoding γ-l-glutamyl-l-cysteine synthetase and glutathione reductase, respectively, were deleted. The gene gcsA was essential, and the ΔgcsA mutant required GSH supplementation at considerably higher concentration than the Saccharomyces cerevisiae gsh1 mutant (8-10 mmol l-1vs. 0.5 μmol l-1). In addition to some functions known previously, both genes were important in the germination of conidiospores, and both gene deletion strains required the addition of extra GSH to reach wild-type germination rates in liquid cultures. Nevertheless, the supplementation of cultures with 10 mmol l-1GSH was toxic for the control and ΔglrA strains especially during vegetative growth, which should be considered in future development of high GSH-producer fungal strains. Importantly, the ΔglrA strain was characterized by increased sensitivity toward a wide spectrum of osmotic, cell wall integrity and antimycotic stress conditions in addition to previously reported temperature and oxidative stress sensitivities. These novel phenotypes underline the distinguished functions of GSH and GSH metabolic enzymes in the stress responses of fungi.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Biotechnology and Microbiology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Debrecen , Debrecen, Hungary.
authors.forename: Fruzsina
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bakti
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Biotechnology and Microbiology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Debrecen , Debrecen, Hungary.
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Király
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Biotechnology and Microbiology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Debrecen , Debrecen, Hungary.
authors.forename: Erzsébet
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Orosz
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Biotechnology and Microbiology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Debrecen , Debrecen, Hungary.|2 MTA-DE Momentum, Laboratory of Protein Dynamics, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Debrecen , Debrecen, Hungary.
authors.forename: Márton
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Miskei
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Biotechnology and Microbiology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Debrecen , Debrecen, Hungary.
authors.forename: Tamás
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Emri
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Biotechnology and Microbiology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Debrecen , Debrecen, Hungary.
authors.forename: Éva
authors.initials: É
authors.lastname: Leiter
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Biotechnology and Microbiology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Debrecen , Debrecen, Hungary.
authors.forename: István
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pócsi
mesh_terms: D001233:Aspergillus nidulans / Q000378:metabolism*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015971:Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic / Q000502:physiology*; D015966:Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal / Q000502:physiology*; D005978:Glutathione / Q000378:metabolism*; D008954:Models, Biological; D009154:Mutation; D013172:Spores, Fungal / Q000502:physiology; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D005656:Fungal Proteins; D005978:Glutathione
keywords: Aspergillus nidulans; environmental stress; glutathione; glutathione metabolism; in silico analysis