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Liu Y, Wang R, Liu J, Fan M, Ye Z, Hao Y, Xie F, Wang T, Jiang Y, Liu N, Cui X, Lv Q, Yan L. The vacuolar fusion regulated by HOPS complex promotes hyphal initiation and penetration in Candida albicans. Nat Commun 2024; 15:4131. [PMID: 38755250 PMCID: PMC11099166 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-48525-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2023] [Accepted: 05/02/2024] [Indexed: 05/18/2024] Open
Abstract
The transition between yeast and hyphae is crucial for regulating the commensalism and pathogenicity in Candida albicans. The mechanisms that affect the invasion of hyphae in solid media, whose deficiency is more related to the pathogenicity of C. albicans, have not been elucidated. Here, we found that the disruption of VAM6 or VPS41 which are components of the homotypic vacuolar fusion and protein sorting (HOPS) complex, or the Rab GTPase YPT72, all responsible for vacuole fusion, led to defects in hyphal growth in both liquid and solid media, but more pronounced on solid agar. The phenotypes of vac8Δ/Δ and GTR1OE-vam6Δ/Δ mutants indicated that these deficiencies are mainly caused by the reduced mechanical forces that drive agar and organs penetration, and confirmed that large vacuoles are required for hyphal mechanical penetration. In summary, our study revealed that large vacuoles generated by vacuolar fusion support hyphal penetration and provided a perspective to refocus attention on the role of solid agar in evaluating C. albicans invasion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yu Liu
- Center for Basic Research and Innovation of Medicine and Pharmacy (MOE), School of Pharmacy, Naval Medical University, Shanghai, 200433, PR China
| | - Ruina Wang
- Center for Basic Research and Innovation of Medicine and Pharmacy (MOE), School of Pharmacy, Naval Medical University, Shanghai, 200433, PR China
| | - Jiacun Liu
- Center for Basic Research and Innovation of Medicine and Pharmacy (MOE), School of Pharmacy, Naval Medical University, Shanghai, 200433, PR China
| | - Mengting Fan
- School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200241, PR China
| | - Zi Ye
- Center for Basic Research and Innovation of Medicine and Pharmacy (MOE), School of Pharmacy, Naval Medical University, Shanghai, 200433, PR China
| | - Yumeng Hao
- Center for Basic Research and Innovation of Medicine and Pharmacy (MOE), School of Pharmacy, Naval Medical University, Shanghai, 200433, PR China
| | - Fei Xie
- Center for Basic Research and Innovation of Medicine and Pharmacy (MOE), School of Pharmacy, Naval Medical University, Shanghai, 200433, PR China
| | - Ting Wang
- Center for Basic Research and Innovation of Medicine and Pharmacy (MOE), School of Pharmacy, Naval Medical University, Shanghai, 200433, PR China
| | - Yuanying Jiang
- School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, PR China
| | - Ningning Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Systems Medicine for Cancer, Center for Single-Cell Omics, School of Public Health, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200025, PR China.
| | - Xiaoyan Cui
- School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200241, PR China.
| | - Quanzhen Lv
- Center for Basic Research and Innovation of Medicine and Pharmacy (MOE), School of Pharmacy, Naval Medical University, Shanghai, 200433, PR China.
| | - Lan Yan
- Center for Basic Research and Innovation of Medicine and Pharmacy (MOE), School of Pharmacy, Naval Medical University, Shanghai, 200433, PR China.
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Molinet J, Cubillos FA, Salinas F, Liti G, Martínez C. Genetic variants of TORC1 signaling pathway affect nitrogen consumption in Saccharomyces cerevisiae during alcoholic fermentation. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0220515. [PMID: 31348805 PMCID: PMC6660096 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0220515] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2019] [Accepted: 07/17/2019] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
In the alcoholic fermentation process, Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains present differences in their nitrogen consumption profiles, these phenotypic outcomes have complex genetic and molecular architectures. In this sense, variations in nitrogen signaling pathways regulated by TORC1 represent one of the main sources of phenotypic diversity in nitrogen consumption. This emphasizes the possible roles that allelic variants from the TORC1 pathway have in the nitrogen consumption differences observed in yeast during the alcoholic fermentation. Here, we studied the allelic diversity in the TORC1 pathway across four yeast strains and determined how these polymorphisms directly impact nitrogen consumption during alcoholic fermentation. Using a reciprocal hemizygosity approach combined with phenotyping under fermentative conditions, we found that allelic variants of GTR1, TOR2, SIT4, SAP185, EAP1, NPR1 and SCH9 underlie differences in the ammonium and amino acids consumption phenotypes. Among these, GTR1 alleles from the Wine/European and West African genetic backgrounds showed the greatest effects on ammonium and amino acid consumption, respectively. Furthermore, we identified allelic variants of SAP185, TOR2, SCH9 and NPR1 from an oak isolate that increased the amino acid consumption preference over ammonium; representing putative candidates coming from a non-domesticated strain that could be used for genetic improvement programs. In conclusion, our results demonstrated that a large number of allelic variants within the TORC1 pathway significantly impacts on regulatory mechanisms of nitrogen assimilation during alcoholic fermentation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer Molinet
- Departamento de Ciencia y Tecnología de los Alimentos, Universidad de Santiago de Chile (USACH), Santiago, Chile
| | - Francisco A. Cubillos
- Millennium Institute for Integrative Biology (iBio), Santiago, Chile
- Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Química y Biología, Universidad de Santiago de Chile (USACH), Santiago, Chile
- Centro de Estudios en Ciencia y Tecnología de Alimentos (CECTA), Universidad de Santiago de Chile (USACH), Santiago, Chile
| | - Francisco Salinas
- Millennium Institute for Integrative Biology (iBio), Santiago, Chile
- Centro de Estudios en Ciencia y Tecnología de Alimentos (CECTA), Universidad de Santiago de Chile (USACH), Santiago, Chile
- Instituto de Bioquímica y Microbiología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile
| | - Gianni Liti
- Institute for Research on Cancer and Ageing of Nice (IRCAN), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), INSERM, University of Côte d’Azur, Nice, France
| | - Claudio Martínez
- Departamento de Ciencia y Tecnología de los Alimentos, Universidad de Santiago de Chile (USACH), Santiago, Chile
- Centro de Estudios en Ciencia y Tecnología de Alimentos (CECTA), Universidad de Santiago de Chile (USACH), Santiago, Chile
- * E-mail:
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Joon S, Gopalani M, Rahi A, Kulshreshtha P, Gogoi H, Bhatnagar S, Bhatnagar R. Biochemical characterization of the GTP-sensing protein, CodY of Bacillus anthracis. Pathog Dis 2018; 75:3791465. [PMID: 28472295 DOI: 10.1093/femspd/ftx048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2017] [Accepted: 04/22/2017] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The pleiotropism of the GTP-sensing transcriptional regulator CodY is evident by the gamut of processes that it regulates in almost all low G+C Gram-positive bacteria, including general metabolism, biosynthesis of some amino acids and transport systems, nitrogen uptake, sporulation, biofilm formation, motility and virulence. The role of CodY in virulence has been established in Bacillus anthracis, the top rated bioterrorism agent. In this study, we investigated the biochemical attributes of this global regulator. Homology modeling and sequence/structure analysis revealed putative GTP-binding residues in CodY of B. anthracis. CodY exhibited an interaction with the GTP as tested by ultraviolet cross-linking experiments. It could autophosphorylate itself at a conserved Ser215 residue. This was further corroborated by the impairment of autophosphorylation activity in the CodYS215A mutant. Autophosphorylation may be speculated as an additional mechanism regulating CodY activity in the cell. The protein could also hydrolyze GTP, albeit weakly, as indicated by thin- layer chromatography and spectrophotometric quantification of its kinetic parameters. Altogether, these observations provide us an insight into the mechanism of action of this global regulator and a better understanding of its functional regulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shikha Joon
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering, School of Biotechnology, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Munirka, New Delhi 110067, India.,Structural and Computational Biology Laboratory, Department of Biotechnology, Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology, New Delhi 110078, India
| | - Monisha Gopalani
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering, School of Biotechnology, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Munirka, New Delhi 110067, India
| | - Amit Rahi
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering, School of Biotechnology, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Munirka, New Delhi 110067, India
| | | | - Himanshu Gogoi
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering, School of Biotechnology, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Munirka, New Delhi 110067, India
| | - Sonika Bhatnagar
- Structural and Computational Biology Laboratory, Department of Biotechnology, Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology, New Delhi 110078, India
| | - Rakesh Bhatnagar
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering, School of Biotechnology, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Munirka, New Delhi 110067, India
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The Architecture of the Rag GTPase Signaling Network. Biomolecules 2017; 7:biom7030048. [PMID: 28788436 PMCID: PMC5618229 DOI: 10.3390/biom7030048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2017] [Revised: 06/22/2017] [Accepted: 06/27/2017] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
The evolutionarily conserved target of rapamycin complex 1 (TORC1) couples an array of intra- and extracellular stimuli to cell growth, proliferation and metabolism, and its deregulation is associated with various human pathologies such as immunodeficiency, epilepsy, and cancer. Among the diverse stimuli impinging on TORC1, amino acids represent essential input signals, but how they control TORC1 has long remained a mystery. The recent discovery of the Rag GTPases, which assemble as heterodimeric complexes on vacuolar/lysosomal membranes, as central elements of an amino acid signaling network upstream of TORC1 in yeast, flies, and mammalian cells represented a breakthrough in this field. Here, we review the architecture of the Rag GTPase signaling network with a special focus on structural aspects of the Rag GTPases and their regulators in yeast and highlight both the evolutionary conservation and divergence of the mechanisms that control Rag GTPases.
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Dick CF, Dos-Santos ALA, Meyer-Fernandes JR. Inorganic phosphate uptake in unicellular eukaryotes. Biochim Biophys Acta Gen Subj 2014; 1840:2123-7. [PMID: 24674820 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbagen.2014.03.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2013] [Revised: 02/27/2014] [Accepted: 03/17/2014] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Inorganic phosphate (Pi) is an essential nutrient for all organisms. The route of Pi utilization begins with Pi transport across the plasma membrane. SCOPE OF REVIEW Here, we analyzed the gene sequences and compared the biochemical profiles, including kinetic and modulator parameters, of Pi transporters in unicellular eukaryotes. The objective of this review is to evaluate the recent findings regarding Pi uptake mechanisms in microorganisms, such as the fungi Neurospora crassa and Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the parasite protozoans Trypanosoma cruzi, Trypanosoma rangeli, Leishmania infantum and Plasmodium falciparum. MAJOR CONCLUSION Pi uptake is the key step of Pi homeostasis and in the subsequent signaling event in eukaryotic microorganisms. GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE Biochemical and structural studies are important for clarifying mechanisms of Pi homeostasis, as well as Pi sensor and downstream pathways, and raise possibilities for future studies in this field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claudia F Dick
- Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
| | - André L A Dos-Santos
- Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - José R Meyer-Fernandes
- Instituto de Bioquímica Médica Leopoldo de Meis, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil; Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em Biologia Estrutural e Bioimagem, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
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