Abstract
The serine–arginine protein kinase–like protein, SrpkF, was identified as a regulator for the cellulose-responsive induction of cellulase genes in Aspergillus aculeatus. To analyze various aspects of SrpkF function, we examined the growth of the control strain (MR12); C-terminus deletion mutant, which produced SrpkF1–327 (ΔCsrpkF); whole gene-deletion mutant of srpkF (ΔsrpkF), srpkF overexpressing strain (OEsprkF); and the complemented strain (srpkF+) under various stress conditions. All test strains grew normally on minimal medium under control, high salt (1.5 M KCl), and high osmolality (2.0 M sorbitol and 1.0 M sucrose). However, only ΔCsrpkF showed reduced conidiation on 1.0 M NaCl media. Conidiation of ΔCsrpkF on 1.0 M NaCl media was reduced to 12% compared with that of srpkF+. Further, when OEsprkF and ΔCsrpkF were pre-cultured under salt stress conditions, germination under salt stress conditions was enhanced in both strains. By contrast, deletion of srpkF did not affect hyphal growth and conidiation under the same conditions. We then quantified the transcripts of the regulators involved in the central asexual conidiation pathway in A. aculeatus. The findings revealed that the expression of brlA, abaA, wetA, and vosA was reduced in ΔCsrpkF under salt stress. These data suggest that in A. aculeatus, SrpkF regulates conidiophore development. The C-terminus of SrpkF seems to be important for regulating SrpkF function in response to culture conditions such as salt stress.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science under Grant 19K05777 and 22K05413. Part of this work was also supported by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) Project under Grant P07015.
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This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI under Grant 19K05777 and 22K05413. Part of this work was also supported by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) Project under Grant P07015.
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S.T. and T.K. conceived and designed the project. N.K., R.K., and K.M. conducted the experiments. S.T wrote the paper. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Kobayashi, N., Katayama, R., Minamoto, K. et al. C-terminus of serine–arginine protein kinase-like protein, SrpkF, is involved in conidiophore formation and hyphal growth under salt stress in Aspergillus aculeatus. Int Microbiol 27, 91–100 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10123-023-00373-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10123-023-00373-x