Abstract
Talaromyces marneffei is a thermally dimorphic fungus causing systemic infections in patients positive for HIV or other immunocompromised statuses. Analysis of its ~28.9 Mb draft genome and additional transcriptomic, proteomic and metabolomic studies revealed mechanisms for environmental adaptations and virulence. Meiotic genes and genes for pheromone receptors, enzymes which process pheromones, and proteins involved in pheromone response pathway are present, indicating its possibility as a heterothallic fungus. Among the 14 Mp1p homologs, only Mp1p is a virulence factor binding a variety of host proteins, fatty acids and lipids. There are 23 polyketide synthase genes, one for melanin and two for mitorubrinic acid/mitorubrinol biosynthesis, which are virulence factors. Another polyketide synthase is for biogenesis of the diffusible red pigment, which consists of amino acid conjugates of monascorubin and rubropunctatin. Novel microRNA-like RNAs (milRNAs) and processing proteins are present. The dicer protein, dcl-2, is required for biogenesis of two milRNAs, PM-milR-M1 and PM-milR-M2, which are more highly expressed in hyphal cells. Comparative transcriptomics showed that tandem repeat-containing genes were overexpressed in yeast phase, generating protein polymorphism among cells, evading host’s immunity. Comparative proteomics between yeast and hyphal cells revealed that glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, up-regulated in hyphal cells, is an adhesion factor for conidial attachment.
Highlights
Talaromyces marneffei (Segretain et al.) Samson et al is a thermally dimorphic fungus
In our analysis of the T. marneffei PM1 genome, we found that all the genes involved in meiosis, except HOP1, as well as genes for pheromone receptors, enzymes which process pheromones, and proteins involved in pheromone response pathway in Aspergillus nidulans and A. fumigatus were present in the genome of T. marneffei PM1 [16]
Proteomics is the characterization of the whole set of proteins synthesized by an organism or a system, most commonly using two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis coupled with mass spectrometry (MS) for protein resolution and identification
Summary
Talaromyces marneffei (Segretain et al.) Samson et al is a thermally dimorphic fungus. T. marneffei was for the first time isolated from Rhizomys sinensis (Chinese bamboo rats) in 1955 [1], initially as Penicillium marneffei. This fungus was recovered from other bamboo rat species belonging to the Rhizomyinae Subfamily, such as Rhizomys pruinosus (hoary bamboo rats), Rhizomys sumatrensis (large bamboo rats), and Cannomys badius (lesser bay bamboo rats) [2,3,4]. In 2011, based on molecular data, which included the RNA polymerase.
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