Identification of the transcription factor Znc1p, which regulates the yeast-to-hypha transition in the dimorphic yeast Yarrowia lipolytica.

Autor: Azul Martinez-Vazquez, Angelica Gonzalez-Hernandez, Angel Domínguez, Richard Rachubinski, Meritxell Riquelme, Patricia Cuellar-Mata, Juan Carlos Torres Guzman
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2013
Předmět:
Zdroj: PLoS ONE, Vol 8, Iss 6, p e66790 (2013)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1932-6203
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0066790
Popis: The dimorphic yeast Yarrowia lipolytica is used as a model to study fungal differentiation because it grows as yeast-like cells or forms hyphal cells in response to changes in environmental conditions. Here, we report the isolation and characterization of a gene, ZNC1, involved in the dimorphic transition in Y. lipolytica. The ZNC1 gene encodes a 782 amino acid protein that contains a Zn(II)2C6 fungal-type zinc finger DNA-binding domain and a leucine zipper domain. ZNC1 transcription is elevated during yeast growth and decreases during the formation of mycelium. Cells in which ZNC1 has been deleted show increased hyphal cell formation. Znc1p-GFP localizes to the nucleus, but mutations within the leucine zipper domain of Znc1p, and to a lesser extent within the Zn(II)2C6 domain, result in a mislocalization of Znc1p to the cytoplasm. Microarrays comparing gene expression between znc1::URA3 and wild-type cells during both exponential growth and the induction of the yeast-to-hypha transition revealed 1,214 genes whose expression was changed by 2-fold or more under at least one of the conditions analyzed. Our results suggest that Znc1p acts as a transcription factor repressing hyphal cell formation and functions as part of a complex network regulating mycelial growth in Y. lipolytica.
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