21220038
not annotated - annotated - LINNAEUS only
acon-3, the Neurospora crassa ortholog of the developmental modifier, medA, complements the conidiation defect of the Aspergillus nidulans mutant.
Aspergillus nidulans and Neurospora crassa are ascomycetes that produce asexual spores through morphologically distinct processes. MedA, a protein with unknown function, is required for normal asexual and sexual development in A. nidulans. We determined that the N. crassa ortholog of medA is acon-3, a gene required for early conidiophore development and female fertility. To test hypotheses about the evolutionary origins of asexual development in distinct fungal lineages it is important to understand the degree of conservation of developmental regulators. The amino acid sequences of A. nidulans MedA and N. crassa ACON-3 shared 37% identity and 51% similarity. acon-3 is induced at late time points of conidiation. In contrast, medA is constitutively expressed and MedA protein localizes to nuclei in all tissue types. Nonetheless, expression of acon-3 using its native promoter complemented the conidiation defects of the A. nidulans DeltamedA and medA15 mutants. We conclude that the biochemical activity of the medA orthologs is conserved for conidiation.
Ann file
T1 Species 12 29 Neurospora crassa
N1 Reference T1 Taxonomy:5141
T2 Species 118 138 Aspergillus nidulans
N2 Reference T2 Taxonomy:162425
T3 Species 149 169 Aspergillus nidulans
N3 Reference T3 Taxonomy:162425
T4 Species 174 191 Neurospora crassa
N4 Reference T4 Taxonomy:5141
T5 Species 376 387 A. nidulans
N5 Reference T5 Taxonomy:162425
T6 Species 412 421 N. crassa
N6 Reference T6 Taxonomy:5141
T7 Species 738 749 A. nidulans
N7 Reference T7 Taxonomy:162425
T8 Species 759 768 N. crassa
N8 Reference T8 Taxonomy:5141
T9 Species 1078 1089 A. nidulans
N9 Reference T9 Taxonomy:162425