A seven-membered cell wall related transglycosylase gene family in Aspergillus niger is relevant for cell wall integrity in cell wall mutants with reduced α-glucan or galactomannan

[EN] Chitin is an important fungal cell wall component that is cross-linked to β-glucan for structural integrity. Acquisition of chitin to glucan cross-links has previously been shown to be performed by transglycosylation enzymes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, called Congo Red hypersensitive (Crh) enz...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Leeuwea, Tim M. van, Wattjesb, Jasper, Niehues, Anna, Forn Cuní, Gabriel, Geoffriond, Nicholas, Mélida Martínez, Hugo, Arentshorsta, Mark, Molina, Antonio, Tsangd, Adrian, Meijer, Annemarie H., Moerschbacher, Bruno M., Punt, Peter J., Ram, Arthur F.J.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:España
Institución:Universidad de León
Repositorio:BULERIA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de León
OAI Identifier:oai:buleria.unileon.es:10612/20722
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10612/20722
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Ingeniería agrícola
Chitin
Crh transglycosylases
α-glucan
Cell wall integrity
Aspergillus niger
3102 Ingeniería Agrícola
2417.19 Fisiología Vegetal
Descripción
Sumario:[EN] Chitin is an important fungal cell wall component that is cross-linked to β-glucan for structural integrity. Acquisition of chitin to glucan cross-links has previously been shown to be performed by transglycosylation enzymes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, called Congo Red hypersensitive (Crh) enzymes. Here, we characterized the impact of deleting all seven members of the crh gene family (crhA-G) in Aspergillus niger on cell wall integrity, cell wall composition and genome-wide gene expression. In this study, we show that the seven-fold crh knockout strain shows slightly compact growth on plates, but no increased sensitivity to cell wall perturbing compounds. Additionally, we found that the cell wall composition of this knockout strain was virtually identical to that of the wild type. In congruence with these data, genome-wide expression analysis revealed very limited changes in gene expression and no signs of activation of the cell wall integrity response pathway. However, deleting the entire crh gene family in cell wall mutants that are deficient in either galactofuranose or α-glucan, mainly α-1,3- glucan, resulted in a synthetic growth defect and an increased sensitivity towards Congo Red compared to the parental strains, respectively. Altogether, these results indicate that loss of the crh gene family in A. niger does not trigger the cell wall integrity response, but does play an important role in ensuring cell wall integrity in mutant strains with reduced galactofuranose or α-glucan.