Faculty of Biology, Hanoi National University of Education, 136 Xuan Thuy, Cau Giay, Hanoi, Vietnam.
Present address: Navarrabiomed, Public University of Navarra, Calle de Irunlarrea, 3, 31008 Pamplona, Navarra, Spain.
Microbiology (Reading). 2024 Jul;170(7). doi: 10.1099/mic.0.001482.
Mucormycosis is an emerging and deadly invasive fungal infection caused by fungi belonging to the Mucorales order. We investigated the myosin superfamily, which encompasses diverse actin-based motor proteins with various cellular functions. Specifically, the role of the Myo5B (ID 179665) protein from the myosin class V family in was explored by generating silencing phenotypes and null mutants corresponding to the gene. Silencing fungal transformants exhibited a markedly reduced growth rate and a nearly complete absence of sporulation compared to the wild-type strain. The null mutant strain displayed atypical characteristics, including abnormally short septa and inflated hyphae. Notably, there were a majority of small yeast-like cells instead of filamentous hyphae in the mutant. These yeast-like cells cannot germinate normally, resulting in a loss of polarity. virulence assays conducted in the invertebrate model revealed that the mutant strain was avirulent. These findings shed light on the crucial contributions of the Myo5B protein to the dimorphism and pathogenicity of . Therefore, the myosin V family is a potential target for future therapeutic interventions aimed at treating mucormycosis.
毛霉病是一种新兴的、致命的侵袭性真菌感染，由毛霉目真菌引起。我们研究了肌球蛋白超家族，它包含多种具有不同细胞功能的基于肌动蛋白的运动蛋白。具体来说，通过生成与基因对应的沉默表型和缺失突变体，研究了肌球蛋白 V 类家族的 Myo5B（ID 179665）蛋白在中的作用。与野生型菌株相比，真菌转化体的沉默表现出明显降低的生长速率和几乎完全缺乏产孢。缺失突变体菌株表现出非典型特征，包括异常短的隔膜和膨胀的菌丝。值得注意的是，突变体中有大多数小酵母样细胞而不是丝状菌丝。这些酵母样细胞不能正常发芽，导致极性丧失。在无脊椎动物模型中进行的毒力测定表明，缺失突变体菌株无毒力。这些发现揭示了 Myo5B 蛋白对形态发生和致病性的重要贡献。因此，肌球蛋白 V 家族是未来治疗毛霉病的潜在治疗靶点。
