Erratum pasted onto front end-paper. / Copies of author's previously published article inserted. / Bibliography: leaves 167-180. / 180 leaves, [51] leaves of plates : ill. (chiefly col.) ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Reanalyses the effects of the absence of CreA in the cell, raises antibodies for the detection of CreA and identifies new loci involved in carbon catabolite repression by using different genetic selection methods. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Genetics, 1999?

Carbon catabolite repression (CCR) is a mechanism by which micro-organisms preferentially utilize more easily metabolizable carbon sources in comparison to less easily metabolizable carbon sources. It prevents the organisms from unnecessary expenditure of energy and enables them to exploit the nutrients in appropriate manner. It represents a complex system of gene regulation. The main aim of this study was to study the intracellular localization of proteins involved in CCR including CreA, CreB, CreC and CreD in A. nidulans in repressing and derepressing conditions. The major regulatory protein involved in CCR in A. nidulans is CreA. It is a DNA-binding repressor, but very little is known about the molecular events that allow CreA function to result in appropriate regulation in response to carbon source. To determine the amount and localization of CreA in different carbon sources, strains were made over-expressing GFP and HA tagged CreA. Western analysis showed that high levels of full length CreA can be present in cells that show normal responses to carbon catabolite repression, whether they are grown in repressing or derepressing media. Hence the amount of CreA is similar in both the conditions and thus degradation of CreA is not a key step in carbon catabolite repression. Fluorescence microscopy studies have shown that CreA is in the nucleus under repressing and derepressing carbon conditions and this is not affected by the absence of CreB or CreD, the other important proteins in A. nidulans. Thus mere localization of CreA in nucleus is not sufficient to cause carbon catabolite repression and there is some modification process involved for CreA to act as a repressor protein in CCR. CreB is a deubiquitinating protein and CreC is a protein containing five WD 40 repeats, a putative nuclear localization signal (NLS) and a proline rich region and both the proteins are present in the cell in a complex. CreB was localized using strains that over-expresses GFP tagged CreB and fluorescence microscopy. CreB is present mainly in the cytoplasm in both repressing and derepressing conditions. Moreover, intracellular localization of CreB is unaffected by the presence or absence of CreD. However, the amount of CreB was higher in a creD+ background as compared to a creD34 mutant background, implying that the presence of CreD affects the amount of CreB in the cell. CreC was localized by using strain that over-expresses YFP tagged CreC and it is also present mainly in the cytoplasm. CreD contains arrestin domains and PY motifs and is highly similar to the Rod1p and Rog3p from S. cerevisiae. CreD is proposed to be involved in ubiquitination process in CCR in A. nidulans. Localization studies have shown that CreD is present throughout the cell in a punctate pattern with more in the cytoplasm than in the nucleus. CreB and CreD co-localize in some regions of the cell whereas in other regions either CreB or CreD is present. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1346526 / Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Adelaide, School of Molecular and Biomedical Science, 2008

University, Diss., 2002--Göttingen.

A humanidade tem aumentado drasticamente o uso de antibióticos, antifúngicos, inseticidas, herbicidas e agentes quimioterápicos para tratar infecções, câncer e obter ganho econômico com a produção agrícola e industrial. O repetido uso destas substâncias leva freqüentemente à sua ineficiência devido à seleção de organismos resistentes ou tolerantes, com graves conseqüências econômicas e sociais. Os mecanismos envolvidos no processo de resistência à antifúngicos são pouco conhecidos. A compreensão destes mecanismos auxiliará no desenvolvimento de estratégias para a identificação de isolados clínicos resistentes, no tratamento de infecções fúngicas, na prevenção do surgimento de isolados resistentes, na definição de novas estratégias de utilização de antifúngicos, na revelação de novos alvos terapêuticos e portanto, no controle dos patógenos. Para o entendimento das bases moleculares da resistência à acriflavina e outros agentes inibidores em fungos nós clonamos, por transformação, um gene que confere esta resistência em Aspergillus nidulans e o caracterizamos molecularmente. Construímos uma biblioteca a partir de uma linhagem duplo-resistente e isolamos um clone que se mostrou capaz de transformar uma linhagem receptora sensível em resistente à acriflavina. A seqüência deste clone proveniente do mutante resistente, e de seu alelo selvagem revelou um gene de aproximadamente 2276 nucleotídeos traduzido em 697 aminoácidos, com alta similaridade com a trealose sintase/fosforilase (glicosiltransferase) de vários organismos. Esta seqüência foi depositada no “GenBanK” (AY102266). As enzimas trealose sintase e fosforilase participam da síntese da trealose que, além de ser fonte de carbono, está relacionada com a proteção das proteínas de membrana e das enzimas, e contra o estresse térmico e oxidativo em fungos filamentosos. As seqüências nucleotídicas dos alelos selvagem e mutante não apresentaram diferenças nas regiões estruturais ou promotoras. No entanto, a seqüência do cDNA da linhagem selvagem apresenta um íntron extra quando comparada com o cDNA da linhagem mutante. Portanto, o mRNA do gene da linhagem mutante não estaria sendo adequadamente processado, provavelmente por uma alteração no mecanismo envolvido neste processamento, inviabilizando a funcionalidade da trealose sintase / fosforilase produzida. O nocaute deste gene e a análise do fenótipo dos mutantes nulos na presença de acriflavina ou brometo de etídio confirmaram que ele não é essencial para o fungo. Através de genética clássica verificou-se que não há interação gênica ou sinergismo entre as mutações acrA1, que confere resistência à acriflavina e a outros inibidores, e tebA1, que confere resistência ao antimicótico terbinafina no fungo A. nidulans. / Mankind has drastically increased the use of antibiotics, antifungals, insecticides, herbicides and chemotherapeutic agents to treat infections and cancer and to obtain economic gains with agricultural and industrial production. The continuous use of these substances frequently leads to their inefficiency due to the selection of resistant or tolerant organisms, with serious economic and social consequences. The mechanisms involved in the process of antifungal resistance are little known. Understanding these mechanisms will help in the development of strategies for the identification of resistant clinical isolates, the treatment of fungal infections, the prevention of the occurrence of resistant isolates, the definition of new strategies for the use of antifungal agents, and the discovery of new therapeutic targets, and therefore the control of pathogens. To better understand the molecular basis of resistance to acriflavine and other inhibitory agents among fungi we cloned by transformation a gene that confers this resistance to Aspergillus nidulans and characterized it molecularly. We constructed a library from a double-resistant strain and isolated a clone that proved to be able to transform a receptor strain sensitive into an acriflavine-resistant strain. The sequence of this clone obtained from the resistant mutant and of its wild allele revealed a gene of approximately 2276 nucleotides translated into 697 amino acids, with high similarity to the trehalose synthase/phosphorylase (glycosyltransferase) of various organisms. This sequence was deposited in GenBanK (AY102266). The enzymes trehalose synthase and trehalose phosphorylase are related to the synthesis of trehalose, which in addition to being a carbon source is related to protection of the membrane proteins and of the enzymes against thermal and oxidative stress in filamentous fungi. The nucleotide sequences of the wild and mutant alleles did not show differences in the structural or promoter regions. However, the cDNA sequence of the wild strain presents an extra intron compared to the cDNA of the mutant strain. Thus, the mRNA of the gene of the mutant strain may not be adequately processed, probably due to an alteration in the mechanism involved in this processing, leading to inviability of the functionality of the trehalose synthase/phosphorylase produced. Knock out of this gene and analysis of the null mutant phenotypes in the presence of acriflavine or ethidium bromide confirmed that this gene is not essential for the fungus. Using classical Genetics, no gene interaction or synergism was observed between the acrA1 mutation, which confers resistance to acriflavine and to other inhibitors, and the tebA1 mutation, which confers resistance to the antimycotic agent terbinafine in the fungus A. nidulans.

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Conídios são estruturas especializadas, produzidas assexuadamente pelo micélio de muitas espécies de ascomicetos. A produção dos conídios requer o controle espacial e temporal da expressão gênica e a formação de estruturas específicas durante o desenvolvimento. Os conídios estão envolvidos na reprodução, dispersão e persistência ambiental dos fungos. Em espécies patogênicas como Aspergillus fumigatus e Metarhizium anisopliae, os conídios também são responsáveis pela infecção do hospedeiro. Um dos principais fatores ambientais capazes de matar e / ou danificar os conídios é a radiação solar. Os dímeros de pirimidina ciclobutano (CPDs) são os principais fotoprodutos do DNA induzidos pela radiação UVB. Os principais objetivos deste trabalho foram: (1) estimar as frequências de CPDs em conídios expostos a doses subletais de radiação UVB, (2) correlacionar a frequência de CPDs com a cinética de germinação dos conídios, (3) comparar a frequência de CPDs em conídios selvagens com a frequência em conídios mutantes para a pigmentação, (4) identificar genes diferencialmente expressos durante as fases da conidiogênese de A. fumigatus e (5) identificar genes modulados pela radiação UVB em micélio jovem de A. fumigatus. Conídios de M. anisopliae, A. nidulans e A. fumigatus foram expostos à irradiância de 1000 mW m-2 de UVB por 15, 30, 60 e 90 min. As doses totais ao final das exposições foram 0,9, 1,8, 3,6 e 5,4 kJ m-2. O aumento na frequência de CPDs foi linear e diretamente proporcional à dose, com 0,215, 0,455, 0,803 e 1,628 CPDs 10 kb-1 induzidos pelas doses de 0,9, 1,8, 3,6 e 5,4 kJ m-2 em A. fumigatus, 0,037, 0,077, 0,142 e 0,202 CPDs 10 kb-1 em A. nidulans e 0,041, 0,085, 0,155 e 0,255 CPDs 10 kb-1 em M. anisopliae. A frequência de CPDs no mutante albino de M. anisopliae (0,552 10 kb-1) foi aproximadamente dez vezes maior do que na linhagem selvagem (0.057 10 kb-1) após exposição à dose de 1,8 kJ m-2. Esta é a primeira evidência direta de que a pigmentação dos conídios protege o DNA contra os danos induzidos pela radiação UVB. Microarranjos genômicos de DNA foram utilizados para comparar os transcriptomas de micélios com 20 h (início da conidiogênese), 24 h (fase intermediária) e 25 h (fase final) com o transcriptoma de micélio jovem. Foram identificados 34 genes diferencialmente expressos (7 com aumento e 27 com diminuição) com 20 h de desenvolvimento, 101 genes (12 com aumento e 89 com diminuição) com 24 h e 76 genes (oito com aumento e 68 com diminuição) com 25 h. Alguns genes que apresentaram aumento na expressão (stuA e o gene da scytalone dehydratase) já haviam sido associados com fases específicas da conidiogênese, entretanto a maioria dos genes que apresentou aumento na expressão não tem função conhecida. A análise de transcriptomas com microarranjos de DNA também foi utilizada para identificar genes com expressão modulada por exposições à radiação UVB (1,8 kJ m-2) em micélio jovem de A. fumigatus. Foram identificados 101 genes diferencialmente expressos ao final da exposição à radiação UVB (51 genes com aumento e 50 com redução). O gene radc apresentou o maior aumento na expressão (aproximadamente 16 ×). A maioria dos genes com aumento na expressão não possui função conhecida. Foram identificados 418 genes diferencialmente expressos 30 min após o termino da exposição (51 genes com aumento e 367 com redução na expressão). / Conidia are specialized structures produced asexually during mycelia growth of many ascomycete species. The process of conidiation involves temporal and spatial regulation of gene expression, cell specialization, intercellular communication, and formation of specific structures during fungal growth. Conidia are responsible for the reproduction, dispersal and environmental persistence of many fungal species. In pathogenic species like Aspergillus fumigatus and Metarhizium anisopliae, conidia are also responsible for host infection. One of the main environmental factors that can kill and/or damage conidia is solar UV radiation. Cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers (CPDs) are the major DNA photoproducts induced by UVB. The principal goals of the present study were to: (1) estimate the frequency of CPDs induced by sublethal doses of UVB radiation in conidial DNA of three selected ascomycetes, (2) examine correlation of CPD frequencies with germination speed, and (3) estimate the protective effect of the wild-type green conidial pigmentation on DNA in M. anisopliae var. anisopliae, (4) identify differentially expressed genes during the different phases of A. fumigatus conidiogenesis and (5) identify genes regulated by UVB radiation in A. fumigatus young mycelia. A. fumigatus, A. nidulans, and M. anisopliae conidia were exposed to 1000 mW m-2 UV irradiance for 15, 30, 60 and 90 min. Total Quaite-weighted doses were 0.9, 1.8, 3.6 and 5.4 kJ m-2, respectively. The frequencies of dimers were linear and directly proportional to the doses, with 0.215, 0.455, 0.803 and 1.628 CPDs 10 kb-1 detected at the doses of 0.9, 1.8, 3.6 and 5.4 kJ m-2 in A. fumigatus, 0.037, 0.077, 0.142 and 0.202 CPDs 10 kb-1 in A. nidulans, and 0.041, 0.085, 0.155 and 0.255 CPDs 10 kb-1 in M. anisopliae. The frequency of dimers in the M. anisopliae albino mutant DWR 180 (0.552 10 kb-1) was approximately ten times higher than of the wild-type ARSEF 23 strain (0.057 10 kb-1) after exposure to doses of 1.8 kJ m-2. DNA microarrays carrying sequence of 11,000 genes of A. fumigatus were used to compare transcriptomes of 20 h-old mycelia (initial phase of the conidiogenesis), 24 h (intermediate phase) e 25 h (final phase) with young mycelia transcriptome. Thirty-four genes displayed a statistically significant difference in expression (7 with increase and 27 with decrease mRNA expression) in 20 h-old mycelia, 101 genes (12 with increase and 89 with decrease) in 24 h-old mycelia and 76 genes (8 with increase and 68 with decrease) in 25 h-old mycelia. Some overexpressed genes (stuA ad the scytalone dehydratase gene) were previously related to specific phases of conidiogenesis but the function of most of them is unknown. Transcriptome analysis using microarrays was also used to identify genes modulated by exposures to UVB radiation (1,8 kJ m-2) in A. fumigatus young mycelia. One hundred and one differentially expressed genes were identified at the end of the exposure to UVB radiation (51 genes with increase and 50 with decrease). The radc gene displayed the higher increase in expression (approximately 16 ×). The function of most of the overexpressed genes is unknown. Four hundred and eighteen differentially expressed genes were identified 30 min after the end of exposure (51 genes with increase and 367 with decrease in expression).