Roles of phospholipid methyltransferases in pycnidia development, stress tolerance and secondary metabolism in the taxol-producing fungus Pestalotiopsis microspore.

Phosphatidylcholine (PC) is an important membrane component of the eukaryotic cell. In yeast fungi, two phospholipid methyltransferases catalyze consecutive steps of methylation in the formation of phosphatidylcholine from phosphatidylethanolamine. However, roles of phospholipid methyltransferases in filamentous fungi remains less investigated. We report here the characterization of two genes, choA and choC, that putatively encoded phospholipid methyltransferases in the taxol-producing fungus Pestalotiopsis microspora. Deletion of choC resulted in defects in PC production, vegetative growth and development of asexual structure. The mutant strains exhibited multiple morphological abnormalities, e.g. swollen hyphal tips and enhanced hyphal branching, and even mycelial autolysis. Some novel roles for the genes were also revealed, for instance, the deletion of either choC or choA impaired the development of pycnidia and conidia, the cell wall integrity. The mutant strains displayed a hypersensitivity to stress conditions, e.g. osmotic stress, cold and metal ions. The osmotic hypersensitivity indicates a crosstalk of PC pathways to other signaling pathways, such as the HOG pathway. Still more, choA, but not choC, was required for the production of secondary metabolites, e.g. pestalotiollide B, suggesting distinct roles of the two genes. This work would contribute to better understanding the function of phospholipid methyltransferases in fungi.