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Calcium/calmodulin-dependent kinases are involved in growth, thermotolerance, oxidative stress survival, and fertility in Neurospora crassa

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Abstract

Calcium/calmodulin-dependent kinases (Ca2+/CaMKs) are Ser/Thr protein kinases that respond to change in cytosolic free Ca2+ ([Ca2+]c) and play multiple cellular roles in organisms ranging from fungi to humans. In the filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa, four Ca2+/CaM-dependent kinases, Ca2+/CaMK-1 to 4, are encoded by the genes NCU09123, NCU02283, NCU06177, and NCU09212, respectively. We found that camk-1 and camk-2 are essential for full fertility in N. crassa. The survival of ∆camk-2 mutant was increased in induced thermotolerance and oxidative stress conditions. In addition, the ∆camk-1 ∆camk-2, ∆camk-4 ∆camk-2, and ∆camk-3 ∆camk-2 double mutants display slow growth phenotype, reduced aerial hyphae, decreased thermotolerance, and increased sensitivity to oxidative stress, revealing the genetic interactions among these kinases. Therefore, Ca2+/CaMKs are involved in growth, thermotolerance, oxidative stress tolerance, and fertility in N. crassa.

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Acknowledgments

The Fungal Genetic Stock Center (FGSC) generously waived charges for strains and race tube. The FGSC was supported by National Science Foundation grant BIR-9222772. RK was supported by a Research Fellowship from the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. We thank Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, for partial financial support.

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  1. Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, 781 039, India

    Ravi Kumar & Ranjan Tamuli

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  1. Ravi Kumar
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  2. Ranjan Tamuli
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Correspondence to Ranjan Tamuli.

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Communicated by Olaf Kniemeyer.

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Kumar, R., Tamuli, R. Calcium/calmodulin-dependent kinases are involved in growth, thermotolerance, oxidative stress survival, and fertility in Neurospora crassa . Arch Microbiol 196, 295–305 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-014-0966-2

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