Molecular bases of intra- and interspecies cell communication in filamentous fungi
Final Report Abstract
Germinating spores of the filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa undergo mutual attraction and subsequent cell fusion, resulting in the merger of numerous individual cells into a supracellular colony. Our earlier studies revealed that the interacting cells employ an unusual communication mechanism, in which the two partners rapidly take turns in signal sending and receiving in a dialog-like manner. The signal emission state is characterized by the presence of the SO protein at the plasma membrane of the interacting cell tips, while signal reception involves membrane recruitment of the MAK-2 MAP kinase module. The goal of this project was the functional characterization of the novel SIP-1 protein, an interaction partner of SO. We show that, in contrast to all known fusion partners, SIP-1 oscillates already at the membrane of non-interacting germlings, indicating that each cell possesses an autonomous rhythm. AI-based structure prediction and experimental data indicate, that SIP-1 very likely mediates liquid-liquid phase separation, which might provide membrane-less reaction rooms for the molecular signaling events mediating cell-cell attraction and fusion. In addition, we identified BRO1 as a novel interaction partner of SO and SIP-1. BRO1 localizes to a fusion-specific subset of vesicular structures involved in cell-cell signaling and plasma membrane merger. Taken together, the obtained data reveal novel important cellular mechanisms involved in eukaryotic cell-cell signaling and provide for the first time a realistic basis for identification of the communication signal and the plasma membrane fusion machinery.
Publications
-
Spatio-temporal MAPK dynamics mediate cell behavior coordination during fungal somatic cell fusion. Journal of Cell Science, 131(9).
Serrano, Antonio; Illgen, Julia; Brandt, Ulrike; Thieme, Nils; Letz, Anja; Lichius, Alexander; Read, Nick D. & Fleißner, André
-
Evidence of repeated horizontal transfer of sterol C-5 desaturase encoding genes among dikarya fungi. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 150, 106850.
Herzog, Stephanie; Brinkmann, Henner; Vences, Miguel & Fleißner, André
-
Plasma Membrane Fusion Is Specifically Impacted by the Molecular Structure of Membrane Sterols During Vegetative Development of Neurospora crassa. Genetics, 216(4), 1103-1116.
Weichert, Martin; Herzog, Stephanie; Robson, Sarah-Anne; Brandt, Raphael; Priegnitz, Bert-Ewald; Brandt, Ulrike; Schulz, Stefan & Fleißner, André
-
The Cell Wall Integrity MAPK pathway controls actin cytoskeleton assembly during fungal somatic cell fusion. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Serrano, Antonio; Hammadeh, Hamzeh H.; Schwarz, Natalie; Brandt, Ulrike & Fleißner, André
-
A dialogue-like cell communication mechanism is conserved in filamentous ascomycete fungi and mediates interspecies interactions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119(12).
Haj Hammadeh, Hamzeh; Serrano, Antonio; Wernet, Valentin; Stomberg, Natascha; Hellmeier, Davina; Weichert, Martin; Brandt, Ulrike; Sieg, Bianca; Kanofsky, Konstantin; Hehl, Reinhard; Fischer, Reinhard & Fleißner, André
-
Highly conserved, but highly specific: Somatic cell–cell fusion in filamentous fungi. Current Opinion in Cell Biology, 79, 102140.
Fleißner, André; Oostlander, Anne G. & Well, Lucas
