Mitogen activated protein kinases SakAHOG1 and MpkC collaborate for Aspergillus fumigatus virulence |
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| Authors: | Thaila Fernanda dos Reis Patrícia Alves de Castro Juliana I Hori Vinícius Leite Pedro Bom Leandro José de Assis Leandra Naira Zambelli Ramalho Marina Campos Rocha Iran Malavazi Neil Andrew Brown Vito Valiante Axel A Brakhage Daisuke Hagiwara Gustavo H Goldman |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas de Ribeir?o Preto, Universidade de S?o Paulo, Ribeir?o Preto, Brazil;2. Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeir?o Preto, Universidade de S?o Paulo, Ribeir?o Preto, Brazil;3. Departamento de Genética e Evolu??o, Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde, Universidade Federal de S?o Carlos, S?o Carlos, S?o Paulo, Brazil;4. Plant Science and Crop Biology, Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, UK;5. Leibniz Junior Research Group Biobricks of Microbial Natural Product Syntheses, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology‐Hans Kn?ll Institute, Jena, Germany;6. Department of Molecular and Applied Microbiology, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology (HKI), Jena, Germany;7. Institute for Microbiology, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany;8. Medical Mycology Research Center, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan |
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| Abstract: | Here, we investigated which stress responses were influenced by the MpkC and SakA mitogen‐activated protein kinases of the high‐osmolarity glycerol (HOG) pathway in the fungal pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus. The ΔsakA and the double ΔmpkC ΔsakA mutants were more sensitive to osmotic and oxidative stresses, and to cell wall damaging agents. Both MpkC::GFP and SakA::GFP translocated to the nucleus upon osmotic stress and cell wall damage, with SakA::GFP showing a quicker response. The phosphorylation state of MpkA was determined post exposure to high concentrations of congo red and Sorbitol. In the wild‐type strain, MpkA phosphorylation levels progressively increased in both treatments. In contrast, the ΔsakA mutant had reduced MpkA phosphorylation, and surprisingly, the double ΔmpkC ΔsakA had no detectable MpkA phosphorylation. A. fumigatus ΔsakA and ΔmpkC were virulent in mouse survival experiments, but they had a 40% reduction in fungal burden. In contrast, the ΔmpkC ΔsakA double mutant showed highly attenuated virulence, with approximately 50% mice surviving and a 75% reduction in fungal burden. We propose that both cell wall integrity (CWI) and HOG pathways collaborate, and that MpkC could act by modulating SakA activity upon exposure to several types of stresses and during CW biosynthesis. |
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