MAP Kinase Regulation of the Candida albicans Pheromone Pathway

MSphere
Golnaz RastghalamMalcolm Whiteway

Abstract

We investigated the relationships of the Cek1 and Cek2 mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases and the putative MAP kinase phosphatase Cpp1 in the mating process of Candida albicans Mutants of the CPP1 gene are hyperresponsive to pheromone, generating large halos, high levels of projections, and an increase in pheromone-responsive gene expression. Mating-type-homozygous opaque cells that lack both kinases are sterile, consistent with previous observations, although several lines of evidence show that the two kinases do not simply provide redundant functions in the mating process. Loss of CEK1 reduces mating significantly, to about 0.3% of wild-type strains, and also reduces projection formation and pheromone-mediated gene expression. In contrast, loss of CEK2 has less of an effect, reducing mating to approximately one-third that of the wild-type strain and moderately reducing projection formation but having little influence on the induction of gene expression. However, loss of Cek2 function reduces adaptation to pheromone-mediated arrest. The mutation enhances pheromone response halos to a level similar to that of cpp1 mutants, although the cpp1 mutants are considerably more mating defective than the cek2 mutant. The double cek...Continue Reading

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Citations

Jan 19, 2020·Journal of Fungi·Austin M PerryClarissa J Nobile
Apr 10, 2019·International Journal of Molecular Sciences·Gema González-RubioMaría Molina
Apr 2, 2021·G3 : Genes - Genomes - Genetics·Anna Carolina Borges Pereira CostaMalcolm Whiteway

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Datasets Mentioned

BETA
GSE125636

Methods Mentioned

BETA
PCR
RNA-seq

Software Mentioned

Excel
Benchling

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