Blastocladiella emersonii spliceosome is regulated in response to the splicing inhibition caused by the metals cadmium, cobalt and manganese

Author(s)

Oshiquiri, Leticia Harumi ^[1] ; Gomes, Suely Lopes ^{[2, 1]} ; Georg, Raphaela Castro ^{[2, 1, 3]}

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Fed Goias, Inst Ciencias Biol, Dept Bioquim & Biol Mol, Goiania, Go - Brazil

^[2] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Quim, Dept Bioquim, Sao Paulo, SP - Brazil

^[3] Georg, Raphaela Castro, Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Quim, Dept Bioquim, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil.Oshiquiri, Leticia Harumi, Univ Fed Goias, Inst Ciencias Biol, Dept Bioquim & Biol Mol, Goiania, Go - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: FUNGAL BIOLOGY; v. 124, n. 5, p. 468-474, MAY 2020.
• Web of Science Citations: 0

Abstract

Blastocladiella emersonii is an aquatic fungus of the phylum Blastocladiomycota, localized near the base of the fungal tree. Previous studies have shown that B. emersonii responds to heat shock and cadmium exposure inducing the transcription of a high number of genes. EST sequencing from heat shocked and cadmium exposed B. emersonii cells has shown that exposure to cadmium causes strong splicing inhibition. Despite the knowledge about splicing inhibition by cadmium, it is still unclear if other metal contaminants can cause the same response. In the present study, we have demonstrated that the effect of cadmium exposure on splicing inhibition is much stronger than that of other divalent metals such as cobalt and manganese. Data presented here also indicate that intron retention occurs randomly among the fungal transcripts, as verified by analyzing differently affected transcripts. In addition, we identified in the genome of B. emersonii the genes encoding the snRNA splicing components U1, U2, U4, U5 and U6 and observed that spliceosome snRNAs are upregulated in the presence of metals, in particular snRNA U1 in cells under cadmium exposure. This observation suggests that snRNA upregulation might be a defense of the fungal cell against the metal stress condition. (C) 2020 British Mycological Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 12/19960-1 - Molecular aspects of the biology of the aquatic fungus Blastocladiella emersonii
• Grantee: Suely Lopes Gomes
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• FAPESP's process: 18/20571-6 - International Symposium on Fungal Stress - ISFUS
• Grantee: Drauzio Eduardo Naretto Rangel
• Support Opportunities: Organization Grants - Scientific Meeting