Journal article
Interactions between the transcription factor FfmA and AtrR are required to properly regulate gene expression in the fungus Aspergillus fumigatus
G3 : genes - genomes - genetics, Vol.13(10), jkad173
10/2023
DOI: 10.1093/g3journal/jkad173
PMCID: PMC10542180
PMID: 37523774
Abstract
Transcriptional regulation of azole resistance in the filamentous fungus Aspergillus fumigatus is a key step in development of this problematic clinical phenotype. We and others have previously described a C2H2-containing transcription factor called FfmA that is required for normal levels of voriconazole susceptibility. Null alleles of ffmA exhibit a strongly compromised growth rate even in the absence of any external stress. Here, we employ an acutely repressible doxycycline-off form of ffmA to rapidly deplete FfmA protein from the cell. Using this approach, we carried out RNA-seq analyses to probe the transcriptome cells acutely deprived of FfmA. A total of 2,000 genes were differentially expressed upon acute depletion of FfmA, illustrating the broad transcriptomic effect of this factor. Interestingly, the transcriptome changes observed upon this acute depletion of FfmA expression only shared limited overlap with those found in an ffmAΔ null strain analyzed by others. Chromatin immunoprecipitation coupled with high throughput DNA sequencing analysis (ChIP-seq) identified 530 genes that were bound by FfmA. More than 300 of these genes were also bound by AtrR, a transcription factor important in azole drug resistance, demonstrating striking regulatory overlap with FfmA. However, while AtrR is an upstream activation protein with known specificity, our data suggest that FfmA is a chromatin-associated factor that binds DNA in a manner dependent on other factors. We provide evidence that AtrR and FfmA interact in the cell and show reciprocal expression modulation. Interaction of AtrR and FfmA is required for normal gene expression in A. fumigatus.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Interactions between the transcription factor FfmA and AtrR are required to properly regulate gene expression in the fungus Aspergillus fumigatus
- Creators
- Sanjoy PaulMark A StamnesW Scott Moye-Rowley
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- G3 : genes - genomes - genetics, Vol.13(10), jkad173
- DOI
- 10.1093/g3journal/jkad173
- PMID
- 37523774
- PMCID
- PMC10542180
- NLM abbreviation
- G3 (Bethesda)
- eISSN
- 2160-1836
- Grant note
- DOI: 10.13039/100000002, name: NIH, award: AI143198
- Language
- English
- Electronic publication date
- 07/31/2023
- Date published
- 10/2023
- Academic Unit
- Molecular Physiology and Biophysics; Internal Medicine
- Record Identifier
- 9984447955902771
Metrics
10 Record Views