Transcriptional profiling of Neurospora crassa Δmak-2 reveals that mitogen-activated protein kinase MAK-2 participates in the phosphate signaling pathway

Jun 5, 2013Fungal genetics and biology : FG & B

Gene activity in Neurospora crassa lacking MAK-2 shows MAK-2 may be involved in phosphate sensing

AI simplified

Circadian Biology on OpenScience ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Abstract

912 unique differentially expressed genes were identified in a knockout strain of Neurospora crassa under phosphate-starvation conditions.

The filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa responds to inorganic phosphate (Pi) starvation through a complex network of regulatory genes.
At least four genes are involved in the Pi starvation response, indicating a hierarchical regulatory system.
The mak-2 gene, which encodes a protein involved in signaling, is implicated in this phosphate signaling pathway.
Microarray experiments comparing a mak-2 knockout strain to a control strain revealed genes related to phosphate transport, metabolism, and regulation.
Quantitative Real-time PCR confirmed the expression changes of 18 selected genes, supporting the microarray findings.

AI simplified

The filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa is an excellent model system for examining molecular responses to ambient signals in eukaryotic microorganisms. Inorganic phosphate (Pi) is an essential growth-limiting nutrient in nature and is crucial for the synthesis of nucleic acids and the flow of genetic information. The genetic and molecular mechanisms controlling the response to Pi starvation in N. crassa include at least four genes (nuc-2, preg, pogv, and nuc-1), which are involved in a hierarchical regulatory activation network. In a previous work, we identified a number of genes modulated by NUC-2 protein, including the mak-2 gene, which codes for a mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), suggesting its participation in the phosphate signaling pathway. Thus, to identify other genes involved in metabolic responses to exogenous phosphate sensing and the functioning of the MAPK MAK-2, we performed microarray experiments using a mak-2 knockout strain (Δmak-2) grown under phosphate-shortage conditions by comparing its transcription profile to that of a control strain grown in low- and high-phosphate cultures. These experiments revealed 912 unique differentially expressed genes involved in a number of physiological processes related to phosphate transport, metabolism, and regulation as well as posttranslational modification of proteins, and MAPK signaling pathways. Quantitative Real-time PCR gene expression analysis of 18 selected genes, using independent RNA samples, validated our microarray results. A high Pearson correlation between microarray and quantitative Real-time PCR data was observed. The analysis of these differentially expressed genes in the Δmak-2 strain provide evidence that the mak-2 gene participates in the hierarchical phosphate-signaling pathway in N. crassa in addition to its involvement in other metabolic routes such as the isoprenylation pathway, thus revealing novel aspects of the N. crassa phosphorus-sensing network.

Full Text

Full text is available at the source.

View full text (XML) ↗View full text ↗

Transcriptional profiling of Neurospora crassa Δmak-2 reveals that mitogen-activated protein kinase MAK-2 participates in the phosphate signaling pathway

Abstract

Full Text

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

what lands in your inbox each week:

Recent issues from the circadian biology brief

Abstract

Full Text

Related papers

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

what lands in your inbox each week:

Recent issues from the circadian biology brief