Calcineurin responsive zinc-finger-1 binds to a unique promoter sequence to upregulate neuronal calcium sensor-1, whose interaction with MID-1 increases tolerance to calcium stress in Neurospora crassa

Interaction of calcium responsive proteins and transcriptional factors with the PHO regulon in yeasts and fungi

Phosphate and calcium ions are nutrients that play key roles in growth, differentiation and the production of bioactive secondary metabolites in filamentous fungi. Phosphate concentration regulates the biosynthesis of hundreds of fungal metabolites. The central mechanisms of phosphate transport and regulation, mediated by the master Pho4 transcriptional factor are known, but many aspects of the control of gene expression need further research. High ATP concentration in the cells leads to inositol pyrophosphate molecules formation, such as IP3 and IP7, that act as phosphorylation status reporters. Calcium ions are intracellular messengers in eukaryotic organisms and calcium homeostasis follows elaborated patterns in response to different nutritional and environmental factors, including cross-talking with phosphate concentrations. A large part of the intracellular calcium is stored in vacuoles and other organelles forming complexes with polyphosphate. The free cytosolic calcium concentration is maintained by transport from the external medium or by release from the store organelles through calcium permeable transient receptor potential (TRP) ion channels. Calcium ions, particularly the free cytosolic calcium levels, control the biosynthesis of fungal metabolites by two mechanisms, 1) direct interaction of calcium-bound calmodulin with antibiotic synthesizing enzymes, and 2) by the calmodulin-calcineurin signaling cascade. Control of very different secondary metabolites, including pathogenicity determinants, are mediated by calcium through the Crz1 factor. Several interactions between calcium homeostasis and phosphate have been demonstrated in the last decade: 1) The inositol pyrophosphate IP3 triggers the release of calcium ions from internal stores into the cytosol, 2) Expression of the high affinity phosphate transporter Pho89, a Na+/phosphate symporter, is controlled by Crz1. Also, mutants defective in the calcium permeable TRPCa7-like of Saccharomyces cerevisiae shown impaired expression of Pho89. This information suggests that CrzA and Pho89 play key roles in the interaction of phosphate and calcium regulatory pathways, 3) Finally, acidocalcisomes organelles have been found in mycorrhiza and in some melanin producing fungi that show similar characteristics as protozoa calcisomes. In these organelles there is a close interaction between orthophosphate, pyrophosphate and polyphosphate and calcium ions that are absorbed in the polyanionic polyphosphate matrix. These advances open new perspectives for the control of fungal metabolism.

Multiple calcium signaling genes play a role in the circadian period of Neurospora crassa

The Ca2+ signaling genes cpe-1, plc-1, ncs-1, splA2, camk-1, camk-2, camk-3, camk-4, cmd, and cnb-1 are necessary for a normal circadian period length in Neurospora crassa. In addition, the Q10 values ranged between 0.8 and 1.2 for the single mutants lacking cpe-1, splA2, camk-1, camk-2, camk-3, camk-4, and cnb-1, suggesting that the circadian clock exhibits standard temperature compensation. However, the Q10 value for the ∆plc-1 mutant was 1.41 at 25 and 30 °C, 1.53 and 1.40 for the ∆ncs-1 mutant at 20 and 25 °C, and at 20 and 30 °C, respectively, suggesting a partial loss of temperature compensation in these two mutants. Moreover, expression of frq, a regulator of the circadian period, and the blue light receptor wc-1, were increased >2-fold in the Δplc-1, ∆plc-1; ∆cpe-1, and the ∆plc-1; ∆splA2 mutants at 20 °C. The frq mRNA level was increased >2-fold in the Δncs-1 mutant compared to the ras-1bd strain at 20 °C. Therefore, multiple Ca2+ signaling genes regulate the circadian period, by influencing expression of the frq and wc-1 genes that are critical for maintaining the normal circadian period length in N. crassa.

Nanosheet-Facilitated Spray Delivery of dsRNAs Represents a Potential Tool to Control Rhizoctonia solani Infection

Rhizoctonia solani is one of the important pathogenic fungi causing several serious crop diseases, such as maize and rice sheath blight. Current methods used to control the disease mainly depend on spraying fungicides because there is no immunity or high resistance available in crops. Spraying double-strand RNA (dsRNA) for induced-gene silencing (SIGS) is a new potentially sustainable and environmentally friendly tool to control plant diseases. Here, we found that fluorescein-labelled EGFP-dsRNA could be absorbed by R. solani in co-incubation. Furthermore, three dsRNAs, each targeting one of pathogenicity-related genes, RsPG1, RsCATA, and RsCRZ1, significantly downregulated the transcript levels of the target genes after co-incubation, leading to a significant reduction in the pathogenicity of the fungus. Only the spray of RsCRZ1 dsRNA, but not RsPG1 or RsCATA dsRNA, affected fungal sclerotium formation. dsRNA stability on leaf surfaces and its efficiency in entering leaf cells were significantly improved when dsRNAs were loaded on layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanosheets. Notably, the RsCRZ1-dsRNA-LDH approach showed stronger and more lasting effects than using RsCRZ1-dsRNA alone in controlling pathogen development. Together, this study provides a new potential method to control crop diseases caused by R. solani.

Interdomain connecting loop and J loop structures determine cross-species compatibility of PCNA

Eukaryotic proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) plays an essential role in orchestrating the assembly of the replisome complex, stimulating processive DNA synthesis, and recruiting other regulatory proteins during the DNA damage response. PCNA and its binding partner network are relatively conserved in eukaryotes, and it exhibits extraordinary structural similarity across species. However, despite this structural similarity, the PCNA of a given species is rarely functional in heterologous systems. In this report, we determined the X-ray crystal structure of Neurospora crassa PCNA (NcPCNA) and compared its structure–function relationship with other available PCNA studies to understand this cross-species incompatibility. We found two regions, the interdomain connecting loop (IDCL) and J loop structures, vary significantly among PCNAs. In particular, the J loop deviates in NcPCNA from that in Saccharomyces cerevisiae PCNA (ScPCNA) by 7 Å. Differences in the IDCL structures result in varied binding affinities of PCNAs for the subunit Pol32 of DNA polymerase delta and for T2-amino alcohol, a small-molecule inhibitor of human PCNA. To validate that these structural differences are accountable for functional incompatibility in S. cerevisiae, we generated NcPCNA mutants mimicking IDCL and J loop structures of ScPCNA. Our genetic analyses suggested that NcPCNA mutants are fully functional in S. cerevisiae. The susceptibility of the strains harboring ScPCNA mimics of NcPCNA to various genotoxic agents was similar to that in yeast cells expressing ScPCNA. Taken together, we conclude that in addition to the overall architecture of PCNA, structures of the IDCL and J loop of PCNA are critical determinants of interspecies functional compatibility.

Heterotrimeric G-Protein Signaling Is Required for Cellulose Degradation in Neurospora crassa

Filamentous fungi are critical for the recycling of plant litter in the biosphere by degrading lignocellulosic biomass into simpler compounds for metabolism. Both saprophytic and pathogenic fungi utilize plant cell wall-degrading enzymes to liberate carbon for metabolism. Several studies have demonstrated a role for cellulase enzymes during infection of economically relevant crops by fungal pathogens. Especially in developing countries, severe plant disease means loss of entire crops, sometimes leading to starvation. In this study, we demonstrate that G-protein signaling is a key component of cellulase production. Therefore, understanding the role of G-protein signaling in the regulation of the unique metabolism of cellulose by these organisms can inform innovations in strain engineering of industrially relevant species for biofuel production and in combatting food shortages caused by plant pathogens.

The filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa decomposes lignocellulosic biomass to generate soluble sugars as carbon sources. In this study, we investigated a role for heterotrimeric G-protein signaling in cellulose degradation. Loss of the Gα subunit genes gna-1 and gna-3, the Gβ subunit genes gnb-1 and cpc-2, the Gγ gene gng-1, or the gene for downstream effector adenylyl cyclase (cr-1) resulted in loss of detectable cellulase activity. This defect was also observed in strains expressing a constitutively active version of gna-3 (gna-3^Q208L). We found that GNA-1 levels are greatly reduced in Δgna-3, Δgnb-1, and Δgng-1 strains, likely contributing to cellulase defects in these genetic backgrounds. The observation that gna-3^Q208L Δgnb-1 strains exhibit cellulase activity, despite greatly reduced levels of GNA-1 protein, is consistent with positive control of cellulase production by GNA-3 that is manifested in the absence of gnb-1. Expression patterns for five cellulase genes showed that Δgna-1, Δgnb-1, and Δgna-3 mutants produce less cellulase mRNA than the wild type, consistent with transcriptional regulation. Δcpc-2 mutants had wild-type levels of cellulase transcripts, suggesting posttranscriptional control. In contrast, results for Δcr-1 mutants support both transcriptional and posttranscriptional control of cellulase activity by cAMP signaling. Cellulase activity defects in Δgna-3 mutants were fully remediated by cAMP supplementation, consistent with GNA-3 operating upstream of cAMP signaling. In contrast, cAMP addition only partially corrected cellulase activity defects in Δgna-1 and Δgnb-1 mutants, suggesting participation of GNA-1 and GNB-1 in additional cAMP-independent pathways that control cellulase activity.

Calcium signaling is involved in diverse cellular processes in fungi

Calcium (Ca²⁺) is a universal signalling molecule of life. The Ca²⁺ signalling is an evolutionarily conserved process from prokaryotes to eukaryotes. Ca²⁺ at high concentration is deleterious to the cell; therefore, cell maintains a low resting level of intracellular free Ca²⁺ concentration ([Ca²⁺]_c). The resting [Ca²⁺]_c is tightly regulated, and a transient increase of the [Ca²⁺]_c initiates a signalling cascade in the cell. Ca²⁺ signalling plays an essential role in various processes, including growth, development, reproduction, tolerance to stress conditions, and virulence in fungi. In this review, we describe the evolutionary aspects of Ca²⁺ signalling and cell functions of major Ca²⁺ signalling proteins in different fungi.