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Characterization of additional components of the environmental pH-sensing complex in the pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus neoformans
- Source :
- Journal of Biological Chemistry. 293:9995-10008
- Publication Year :
- 2018
- Publisher :
- Elsevier BV, 2018.
-
Abstract
- Pathogenic microorganisms must adapt to changes in their immediate surroundings, including alterations in pH, to survive the shift from the external environment to that of the infected host. In the basidiomycete fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans, these pH changes are primarily sensed by the fungus-specific, alkaline pH-sensing Rim/Pal pathway. The C. neoformans Rim pathway has diverged significantly from that described in ascomycete fungi. We recently identified the C. neoformans putative pH sensor Rra1, which activates the Rim pathway in response to elevated pH. In this study, we probed the function of Rra1 by analyzing its cellular localization and performing protein co-immunoprecipitation to identify potential Rra1 interactors. We found that Rra1 does not strongly colocalize or interact with immediate downstream Rim pathway components. However, these experiments identified a novel Rra1 interactor, the previously uncharacterized C. neoformans nucleosome assembly protein 1 (Nap1), which was required for Rim pathway activation. We observed that Nap1 specifically binds to the C-terminal tail of the Rra1 sensor, probably promoting Rra1 protein stability. This function of Nap1 is conserved in fungi closely related to C. neoformans that contain Rra1 orthologs, but not in the more distantly related ascomycete fungus Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In conclusion, our findings have revealed the sophisticated, yet distinct, molecular mechanisms by which closely and distantly related microbial phyla rapidly adapt to environmental signals and changes, such as alterations in pH.
- Subjects :
- 0301 basic medicine
Cell signaling
Microorganism
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Fungus
Environment
Biology
Microbiology
Biochemistry
Substrate Specificity
Fungal Proteins
03 medical and health sciences
Cytosol
Molecular Biology
Cellular localization
Cryptococcus neoformans
Cell Biology
Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
Pathogenic fungus
biology.organism_classification
Cell biology
Protein Transport
Phenotype
030104 developmental biology
Mutation
Function (biology)
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 00219258
- Volume :
- 293
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Journal of Biological Chemistry
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....2c166435c7ac3ca07508041939d77e97