Gene/Protein
Disease
Symptom
Drug
Enzyme
Compound
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Gene/Protein
Disease
Symptom
Drug
Enzyme
Compound
Target Concepts:
Gene/Protein
Disease
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Drug
Enzyme
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Query: UNIPROT:P23193 (
transcription elongation factor
)
739
document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)
Aspergillus flavus
is an opportunistic fungal plant and human pathogen and a producer of mycotoxins, including aflatoxin B
1
(AFB
1
). As part of our ongoing studies to elucidate the biological functions of the
A. flavus
rtfA
gene, we examined its role in the pathogenicity of both plant and animal model systems.
rtfA
encodes a putative RNA polymerase II (Pol II)
transcription elongation factor
previously characterized in
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
,
Aspergillus nidulans
, and
Aspergillus fumigatus
, where it was shown to regulate several important cellular processes, including morphogenesis and secondary metabolism. In addition, an initial study in
A. flavus
indicated that
rtfA
also influences development and production of AFB
1
; however, its effect on virulence is unknown. The current study reveals that the
rtfA
gene is indispensable for normal pathogenicity in plants when using peanut seed as an infection model, as well as in animals, as shown in the
Galleria mellonella
infection model. Interestingly,
rtfA
positively regulates several processes known to be necessary for successful fungal invasion and colonization of host tissue, such as adhesion to surfaces, protease and
lipase
activity, cell wall composition and integrity, and tolerance to oxidative stress. In addition, metabolomic analysis revealed that
A. flavus
rtfA
affects the production of several secondary metabolites, including AFB
1
, aflatrem, leporins, aspirochlorine, ditryptophenaline, and aflavinines, supporting a role of
rtfA
as a global regulator of secondary metabolism. Heterologous complementation of an
A. flavus
rtfA
deletion strain with
rtfA
homologs from
A. nidulans
or
S. cerevisiae
fully rescued the wild-type phenotype, indicating that these
rtfA
homologs are functionally conserved among these three species.
IMPORTANCE
In this study, the epigenetic global regulator
rtfA
, which encodes a putative RNA-Pol II
transcription elongation factor
-like protein, was characterized in the mycotoxigenic and opportunistic pathogen
A. flavus
Specifically, its involvement in
A. flavus
pathogenesis in plant and animal models was studied. Here, we show that
rtfA
positively regulates
A. flavus
virulence in both models. Furthermore,
rtfA
-dependent effects on factors necessary for successful invasion and colonization of host tissue by
A. flavus
were also assessed. Our study indicates that
rtfA
plays a role in
A. flavus
adherence to surfaces, hydrolytic activity, normal cell wall formation, and response to oxidative stress. This study also revealed a profound effect of
rtfA
on the metabolome of
A. flavus
, including the production of potent mycotoxins.
...
PMID:The
Aspergillus flavus rtfA
Gene Regulates Plant and Animal Pathogenesis and Secondary Metabolism. 3063 79
