Blue light photoreceptor Sfwc-1 gene regulates phototropic response and fruiting-body development in the homothallic ascomycete Sordaria fimicola.

In this study, we identified and characterized the blue light photoreceptor gene in S. fimicola S. fimicola white collar-1 photoreceptor (SfWC-1) contains light-oxygen-voltage-sensing (LOV), Per-Arnt-Sim (PAS) and other conserved domains and is homologous to the WC-1 blue-light photoreceptor of Neurospora crassa The LOV domain of Sfwc-1 was deleted by homologous recombination using Agrobacterium-mediated protoplast transformation. The Sfwc-1 (Δlov) mutant showed normal vegetative growth but produced less carotenoid pigment under illumination. The mutant showed delayed and less-pronounced fruiting body formation, was defective in phototropism of the perithecial beaks, and lacked the fruiting-body zonation pattern as compared with the wild type under illumination condition. Gene expression analyses supported the light-induced functions of Sfwc-1 gene in the physiology and developmental process of perithecial formation in S. fimicola. Moreover, GFP-tagged SfWC-1 fluorescent signals were transiently strong upon light induction and prominently located inside the nuclei of living hyphae. Our studies focus on the putative blue light photoreceptor in a model ascomycete and contribute to better understanding the photoregulatory functions and networks mediated by the evolutionarily conserved blue light photoreceptors across diverse fungal phyla.IMPORTANCE Sordaria sp. has been a model to study fruiting body differentiation in fungi. Several environmental factors including light affect...

Source: Applied and Environmental Microbiology - April 11, 2019 Category: Microbiology Authors: Krobanan K, Liang SW, Chiu HC, Shen WC Tags: Appl Environ Microbiol Source Type: research