Cryptococcus neoformans is a major cause of fungal meningitis
in individuals with impaired immunity. Our previous
studies have shown that the VPS41 gene plays a critical role
in the survival of Cryptococcus neoformans under nitrogen
starvation; however, the molecular mechanisms underlying
VPS41-mediated starvation response remain to be elucidated.
In the present study, we show that, under nitrogen starvation,
VPS41 strongly enhanced ICL1 expression in C. neoformans
and that overexpression of ICL1 in the vps41 mutant dramatically
suppressed its defects in starvation response due
to the loss of VPS41 function. Moreover, targeted deletion of
ICL1 resulted in a dramatic decline in viability of C. neoformans
cells under nitrogen deprivation. Taken together, our
data suggest a model in which VPS41 up-regulates ICL1 expression,
directly or indirectly, to promote survival of C. neoformans
under nitrogen starvation.
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Physiological and Transcriptomic Analysis of a Chronologically Long-Lived Saccharomyces cerevisiae Strain Obtained by Evolutionary Engineering Mevlüt Arslan, Can Holyavkin, Halil İbrahim Kısakesen, Alican Topaloğlu, Yusuf Sürmeli, Zeynep Petek Çakar Molecular Biotechnology.2018; 60(7): 468. CrossRef