1. Conidial Hydrophobins ofAspergillus fumigatus
- Author
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Sophie Paris, Marilyn Carey, Bruno Philippe, Reto Crameri, Jean-Paul Latgé, Marie Christine Prevost, Christine Schmitt, Franck Charlès, and J P Debeaupuis
- Subjects
Male ,Molecular Sequence Data ,Mutant ,Mycology ,Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology ,Conidium ,Microbiology ,Aspergillus fumigatus ,Fungal Proteins ,Cell wall ,Mice ,Cell Wall ,Macrophages, Alveolar ,Animals ,Amino Acid Sequence ,Cloning, Molecular ,Gene ,Ecology ,Double mutant ,biology ,fungi ,Sequence Analysis, DNA ,biology.organism_classification ,Mutation ,Microscopy, Electron, Scanning ,Sequence Alignment ,Food Science ,Biotechnology - Abstract
The surface ofAspergillus fumigatusconidia, the first structure recognized by the host immune system, is covered by rodlets. We report that this outer cell wall layer contains two hydrophobins, RodAp and RodBp, which are found as highly insoluble complexes. TheRODAgene was previously characterized, and ΔrodAconidia do not display a rodlet layer (N. Thau, M. Monod, B. Crestani, C. Rolland, G. Tronchin, J. P. Latgé, and S. Paris, Infect. Immun. 62:4380-4388, 1994). TheRODBgene was cloned and disrupted. RodBp was highly homologous to RodAp and different from DewAp ofA. nidulans. ΔrodBconidia had a rodlet layer similar to that of the wild-type conidia. Therefore, unlike RodAp, RodBp is not required for rodlet formation. The surface of ΔrodAconidia is granular; in contrast, an amorphous layer is present at the surface of the conidia of the ΔrodAΔrodBdouble mutant. These data show that RodBp plays a role in the structure of the conidial cell wall. Moreover, rodletless mutants are more sensitive to killing by alveolar macrophages, suggesting that RodAp or the rodlet structure is involved in the resistance to host cells.
- Published
- 2003
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