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Eukaryotic Cell, November 2006, p. 1934-1940, Vol. 5, No. 11
1535-9778/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/EC.00178-06
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Novel Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase MpkC of Aspergillus fumigatus Is Required for Utilization of Polyalcohol Sugars

Guadalupe Reyes, Angela Romans, C. Kim Nguyen, and Gregory S. May^*

Division of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas

Received 20 February 2006/ Accepted 11 September 2006

The genome of Aspergillus fumigatus has four genes that encode mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), sakA/hogA, mpkA, mpkB, and mpkC. The functions of the MpkB and MpkC MAPKs are unknown for A. fumigatus and the closely related and genetically amenable species Aspergillus nidulans. mpkC deletion mutants of A. fumigatus were made and their phenotypes characterized. The mpkC deletion mutants were viable and had normal conidial germination and hyphal growth on minimal or complete media. This is in contrast to deletion mutants with deletions in the closely related MAPK gene sakA/hogA that we previously reported had a nitrogen source-dependent germination phenotype. Similarly, the growth of the mpkC deletion mutants was wild type on high-osmolarity medium. Consistent with these two MAP kinase genes regulating different cellular responses, we determined that the mpkC deletion mutants were unable to grow on minimal medium with sorbitol or mannitol as the sole carbon source. This result implicates MpkC signaling in carbon source utilization. Changes in mRNA levels for sakA and mpkC were measured in response to hypertonic stress, oxidative stress, and a shift from glucose to sorbitol to determine if there was overlap in the SakA and MpkC signaling pathways. These studies demonstrated that SakA- and MpkC-dependent patterns of change in mRNA levels are distinct and have minimal overlap in response to these environmental stresses.

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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Division of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Unit 54, the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Blvd., Houston, TX 77030. Phone: (713) 745-1945. Fax: (713) 792-8460. E-mail: gsmay{at}mdanderson.org.

Published ahead of print on 22 September 2006.

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Eukaryotic Cell, November 2006, p. 1934-1940, Vol. 5, No. 11
1535-9778/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/EC.00178-06
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

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