Novel biological functions of the NsdC transcription factor in Aspergillus fumigatus

The fungal zinc finger transcription factor NsdC is named after, and is best known for, its essential role in sexual reproduction (never in sexual development). In previous studies with <i>Aspergillus nidulans </i>it was also shown to have roles in promotion of vegetative growth and suppression of asexual conidiation. In this study the function of the <i>nsdC </i>homologue in the opportunistic human pathogen <i>A. fumigatus</i> was investigated. NsdC was again found to be essential for sexual development, with deletion of the <i>nsdC </i>gene in both <i>MAT1-1 </i>and <i>MAT1-2 </i>mating partners of a cross leading to complete loss of fertility. However, a functional copy of <i>nsdC</i> in one mating partner was sufficient to allow sexual reproduction. Deletion of <i>nsdC </i>also led to decreased vegetative growth and allowed conidiation in liquid cultures, again consistent with previous findings. However, NsdC in <i>A. fumigatus </i>was shown to have additional biological functions including response to calcium stress, correct organization of cell wall structure and response to the cell wall stressors. Furthermore, virulence and host immune recognition was affected. Gene expression studies involving chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) of RNA polymerase II (PolII) coupled to sequencing (Seq) revealed that deletion of <i>nsdC </i>resulted in changes in expression of over 620 genes under basal growth conditions. This demonstrated that this transcription factor mediates the activity of a wide variety of signalling and metabolic pathways and indicates that despite the naming of the gene, the promotion of sexual reproduction is just one among multiple roles of NsdC.