Aspergillus nidulans conidiation genes dewA, fluG, and stuA are differentially regulated in early vegetative growth

Abstract

Microarray analysis was used to identify transcriptional changes in early vegetative growth of the filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans. The results suggest that the previously identified conidiation genes dewA, fluG, and stuA may function in isotropic expansion during early vegetative growth and asexual reproduction.

FIG. 1.

Microarray analysis was used to compare isotropically expanding cells (3 h of incubation) (A) and polarly extending cells (5 h of incubation) (B). Scale bars, 20 μm.

FIG. 2.

Functional classification of genes that are differentially regulated during germ tube formation in A. nidulans. Differentially regulated genes were classified into functional groups using the PEDANT genome database and the MIPS FunCat. Many genes were assigned to multiple functional categories. Solid bars represent genes that were up-regulated more than twofold, while open bars represent those down-regulated more than twofold.

FIG. 3.

Quantitative RT-PCR of A. nidulans conidiation genes during early vegetative growth and asexual reproduction. (A) Time points represent ungerminated conidia (0 h), isotropically expanding cells (3 h), polarly extending cells (5 h), mature vegetative hyphae (18 h), and synchronously conidiating cultures with mature conidia (42 h). (B) Transcript accumulation for each gene was plotted relative to the level at 42 h (taken as 100%). The data were normalized according to the 2^−ΔΔCT method using 18S rRNA as the internal reference. Error bars represent ranges of three technical replicates.