pH response transcription factor PacC controls salt stress tolerance and expression of the P-Type Na+ -ATPase Ena1 in Fusarium oxysporum

Eukaryot Cell. 2003 Dec;2(6):1246-52. doi: 10.1128/EC.2.6.1246-1252.2003.

Abstract

Fungi possess efficient mechanisms of pH and ion homeostasis, allowing them to grow over a wide range of environmental conditions. In this study, we addressed the role of the pH response transcription factor PacC in salt tolerance of the vascular wilt pathogen Fusarium oxysporum. Loss-of-function pacC(+/-) mutants showed increased sensitivity to Li(+) and Na(+) and accumulated higher levels of these cations than the wild type. In contrast, strains expressing a dominant activating pacC(c) allele were more salt tolerant and had lower intracellular Li(+) and Na(+) concentrations. Although the kinetics of Li(+) influx were not altered by mutations in pacC, we found that Li(+) efflux at an alkaline, but not at an acidic, ambient pH was significantly reduced in pacC(+/-) loss-of-function mutants. To explore the presence of a PacC-dependent efflux mechanism in F. oxysporum, we cloned ena1 encoding an orthologue of the yeast P-type Na(+)-ATPase ENA1. Northern analysis revealed that efficient transcriptional activation of ena1 in F. oxysporum required the presence of high Na(+) concentrations and alkaline ambient pH and was dependent on PacC function. We propose a model in which PacC controls ion homeostasis in F. oxysporum at a high pH by activating expression of ena1 coordinately with a second Na(+)-responsive signaling pathway.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adenosine Triphosphatases / chemistry
  • Adenosine Triphosphatases / metabolism*
  • Alleles
  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Cation Transport Proteins / chemistry
  • Cation Transport Proteins / metabolism*
  • Conserved Sequence
  • Fungal Proteins / genetics
  • Fungal Proteins / metabolism*
  • Fusarium / enzymology*
  • Fusarium / genetics*
  • Fusarium / growth & development
  • Fusarium / metabolism
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal*
  • Genes, Fungal
  • Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
  • Kinetics
  • Lithium / metabolism
  • Models, Biological
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Mutation
  • Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
  • Sodium / metabolism
  • Transcription Factors / genetics
  • Transcription Factors / metabolism*
  • Transcriptional Activation

Substances

  • Cation Transport Proteins
  • Fungal Proteins
  • PacC protein, Aspergillus
  • Transcription Factors
  • Lithium
  • Sodium
  • Adenosine Triphosphatases
  • sodium-translocating ATPase