Involved molecular mechanism in the resistance to the derivatives of acridine and antimycotic tioconazol in Aspergillus nidulans

Author(s)

Eleusa Maria Ferreira Rocha

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: Ribeirão Preto.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto (PCARP/BC)
• Defense date: 2002-12-19

Examining board members

Nilce Maria Martinez Rossi; Claudia Maria Leite Maffei; Suraia Said; Sandra Regina Pombeiro Sponchiado

• Advisor: Nilce Maria Martinez Rossi

Abstract

Mankind has drastically increased the use of antibiotics, antifungals, insecticides, herbicides and chemotherapeutic agents to treat infections and cancer and to obtain economic gains with agricultural and industrial production. The continuous use of these substances frequently leads to their inefficiency due to the selection of resistant or tolerant organisms, with serious economic and social consequences. The mechanisms involved in the process of antifungal resistance are little known. Understanding these mechanisms will help in the development of strategies for the identification of resistant clinical isolates, the treatment of fungal infections, the prevention of the occurrence of resistant isolates, the definition of new strategies for the use of antifungal agents, and the discovery of new therapeutic targets, and therefore the control of pathogens. To better understand the molecular basis of resistance to acriflavine and other inhibitory agents among fungi we cloned by transformation a gene that confers this resistance to Aspergillus nidulans and characterized it molecularly. We constructed a library from a double-resistant strain and isolated a clone that proved to be able to transform a receptor strain sensitive into an acriflavine-resistant strain. The sequence of this clone obtained from the resistant mutant and of its wild allele revealed a gene of approximately 2276 nucleotides translated into 697 amino acids, with high similarity to the trehalose synthase/phosphorylase (glycosyltransferase) of various organisms. This sequence was deposited in GenBanK (AY102266). The enzymes trehalose synthase and trehalose phosphorylase are related to the synthesis of trehalose, which in addition to being a carbon source is related to protection of the membrane proteins and of the enzymes against thermal and oxidative stress in filamentous fungi. The nucleotide sequences of the wild and mutant alleles did not show differences in the structural or promoter regions. However, the cDNA sequence of the wild strain presents an extra intron compared to the cDNA of the mutant strain. Thus, the mRNA of the gene of the mutant strain may not be adequately processed, probably due to an alteration in the mechanism involved in this processing, leading to inviability of the functionality of the trehalose synthase/phosphorylase produced. Knock out of this gene and analysis of the null mutant phenotypes in the presence of acriflavine or ethidium bromide confirmed that this gene is not essential for the fungus. Using classical Genetics, no gene interaction or synergism was observed between the acrA1 mutation, which confers resistance to acriflavine and to other inhibitors, and the tebA1 mutation, which confers resistance to the antimycotic agent terbinafine in the fungus A. nidulans. (AU)