The GUL-1 Protein Binds Multiple RNAs Involved in Cell Wall Remodeling and Affects the MAK-1 Pathway in Neurospora crassa

Inbal Herold, Avihai Zolti, Marisela Garduño-Rosales, Zheng Wang, Francesc López-Giráldez, Rosa R. Mouriño-Pérez, Jeffrey P. Townsend, Igor Ulitsky, Oded Yarden*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Neurospora crassa GUL-1 is part of the COT-1 pathway, which plays key roles in regulating polar hyphal growth and cell wall remodeling. We show that GUL-1 is a bona fide RNA-binding protein (RBP) that can associate with 828 “core” mRNA species. When cell wall integrity (CWI) is challenged, expression of over 25% of genomic RNA species are modulated (2,628 mRNAs, including the GUL-1 mRNA). GUL-1 binds mRNAs of genes related to translation, cell wall remodeling, circadian clock, endoplasmic reticulum (ER), as well as CWI and MAPK pathway components. GUL-1 interacts with over 100 different proteins, including stress-granule and P-body proteins, ER components and components of the MAPK, COT-1, and STRIPAK complexes. Several additional RBPs were also shown to physically interact with GUL-1. Under stress conditions, GUL-1 can localize to the ER and affect the CWI pathway—evident via altered phosphorylation levels of MAK-1, interaction with mak-1 transcript, and involvement in the expression level of the transcription factor adv-1. We conclude that GUL-1 functions in multiple cellular processes, including the regulation of cell wall remodeling, via a mechanism associated with the MAK-1 pathway and stress-response.

Original languageEnglish
Article number672696
JournalFrontiers in Fungal Biology
Volume2
DOIs
StatePublished - 2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2021 Herold, Zolti, Garduño-Rosales, Wang, López-Giráldez, Mouriño-Pérez, Townsend, Ulitsky and Yarden.

Keywords

  • COT-1
  • GUL-1
  • MAPK
  • Nikkomycin
  • RNA-binding protein
  • cell wall integrity pathway
  • cell wall remodeling

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