Endocytic recycling at the tip region in the filamentous fungus Aspergillus oryzae.

Recent live cell imaging analyzing the components required for endocytosis has elucidated that endocytosis actively occurs at the hyphal tip region in filamentous fungi. To examine further the physiological roles of endocytosis we investigated a conditional mutant of endocytosis in Aspergillus oryzae. Endocytosis-deficient hyphae displayed retarded apical growth, abnormal hyphal morphology, mislocalization of a vesicle- SNARE, which is thought to undergo endocytic recycling to the tip region, and aberrant accumulation of cell wall components at large invaginated structures. These results suggest that endocytosis is crucial for apical growth and for recycling components, which should be re-transported to the tip region. In this report, we discuss the endocytic recycling pathway and present its possible mechanism in filamentous fungi.