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Characterization of a G protein α subunit encoded gene from the dimorphic fungus-Tremella fuciformis

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Abstract

Tremella fuciformis is a dimorphic fungus which can undertake the reversible transition between yeast and pseudohypha forms. G protein α subunit (Gα) carries different signals to regulate a variety of biological processes in eukaryotes, including fungal dimorphism. In this study, a novel Gα subunit encoded gene, TrGpa1, was firstly cloned from T. fuciformis. The TrGpa1 open reading frame has 1059 nucleotides, and encodes a protein which belongs to the group I of Gαi superfamily. Furthermore, the role of TrGpa1 in the T. fuciformis dimorphism was analysed by gene overexpression and knockdown. Stable integration of the target gene into the genome was confirmed by PCR and Southern blot hybridization. Transformants with the highest and lowest TrGpa1 expression levels were selected via quantitative real-time PCR analysis and Western blot. Each transformant was compared with the wild-type strain about the morphological change under different environmental factors, including pH values, temperature, cultivation time, inoculum size, and quorum-sensing molecules (farnesol and tyrosol). Comparing with the wild-type strain, the overexpression transformant always had higher ratios of pseudohyphae, while the knockdown transformant had less proportions of pseudohyphae. Therefore, the TrGpa1 is involved in the dimorphism of T. fuciformis and plays a positive role in promoting pseudohyphal growth.

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Availability of data and materials

The DNA and cDNA sequences of TrGpa1 can be downloaded from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), and the GenBank accession numbers are MH091706 and MH101517.

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Funding

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (No. 30972072 and No. 31572182) to Aimin Ma and from the General Project of Hunan Provincial Education Department (No. 19C0289) to Hanyu Zhu.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Life Science and Environment, Hengyang Normal University, Hengyang, 421000, China

    Hanyu Zhu

  2. College of Food Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Hanyu Zhu, Dongmei Liu & Aimin Ma

  3. College of Plant Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Liesheng Zheng & Liguo Chen

  4. Key Laboratory of Agro-Microbial Resources and Utilization, Ministry of Agriculture, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Aimin Ma

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  1. Hanyu Zhu
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  2. Dongmei Liu
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  3. Liesheng Zheng
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  4. Liguo Chen
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  5. Aimin Ma
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Contributions

HZ and AM designed the study; LZ and LC collected the samples; HZ and DL performed the laboratory work; HZ performed the data analysis and wrote the manuscript; AM, LZ, and LC reviewed and revised the writing.

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Correspondence to Aimin Ma.

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Zhu, H., Liu, D., Zheng, L. et al. Characterization of a G protein α subunit encoded gene from the dimorphic fungus-Tremella fuciformis. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 114, 1949–1960 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10482-021-01653-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10482-021-01653-0

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