Alternative TSS use is widespread in Cryptococcus fungi in response to environmental cues and regulated genome-wide by the transcription factor Tur1

Thi Tuong Vi Dang, Corinne Maufrais, Jessie Colin, Frédérique Moyrand, Isabelle Mouyna, Jean-Yves Coppée, Chinaemerem U. Onyishi, Joanna Lipecka, Ida Chiara Guerrera, Robin C. May, Guilhem Janbon*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

33 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Alternative transcription start site (TSS) usage regulation has been identified as a major means of gene expression regulation in metazoans. However, in fungi, its impact remains elusive as its study has thus far been restricted to model yeasts. Here, we first re-analyzed TSS-seq data to define genuine TSS clusters in 2 species of pathogenic Cryptococcus. We identified 2 types of TSS clusters associated with specific DNA sequence motifs. Our analysis also revealed that alternative TSS usage regulation in response to environmental cues is widespread in Cryptococcus, altering gene expression and protein targeting. Importantly, we performed a forward genetic screen to identify a unique transcription factor (TF) named Tur1, which regulates alternative TSS (altTSS) usage genome-wide when cells switch from exponential phase to stationary phase. ChiP-Seq and DamID-Seq analyses suggest that at some loci, the role of Tur1 might be direct. Tur1 has been previously shown to be essential for virulence in C. neoformans. We demonstrated here that a tur1Δ mutant strain is more sensitive to superoxide stress and phagocytosed more efficiently by macrophages than the wild-type (WT) strain.
Original languageEnglish
Article numbere3002724
Number of pages35
JournalPLoS Biology
Volume22
Issue number7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 25 Jul 2024

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Alternative TSS use is widespread in Cryptococcus fungi in response to environmental cues and regulated genome-wide by the transcription factor Tur1'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this