Proteínas relevantes en la homeostasis de metales pesados en el hongo oportunista Fusarium oxysporum

Identifier:  TDX:3058

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TDX3058

Authors:  Lorenzo Gutiérrez, Dámaris

Abstract:
Metallothioneins (MTs) are intracellular low molecular weight proteins rich in cysteines which possess high metal binding capabilities. Recent studies have shown that MTs could have a significant role in the pathogenic fungi virulence. Nowadays, the studies related to these proteins in pathogenic fungi are few, that is why the present work has the objective to identify and characterize proteins involved in heavy metal detoxification in Fusarium oxysporum, and to determine their contribution to the virulence of this specie. Therefore, knockout mutants were generated in the genes coding for a hypothetical MT (mt1, FOXG_02862) and a hypothetical copper exporter ATPase (crpF, FOXG_03265) which are in the F. oxysporum genome. The expression analysis demonstrated a mt1 high induction in Zn presence and this Zn predilection was corroborated by Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry (ESI-MS). The Cu presence, however, increased significantly the crpF expression levels, which confirms its function as copper transporter. The Δmt1 and ΔcrpF strains showed less tolerance to Cd, Cu and Zn, in comparison to the wild type strain (wt). The mt1 lack did not affect the F. oxysporum pathogenic capacity, analysed in infection models in tomato plants and systemic infection in mouse. However, the mt1 deletion caused a reduced resistance to macrophage killing. On the other hand, the crpF deletion increased double the mean survival time of infected plants versus the wt strains. In conclusion, it has been characterized a new hypothetical Zn metallothionein (MT1) in a fungus with clinical relevance and phytopathogen, as a hypothetical Cu exporter.