Members of the Ascomycete genus Aspergillus are common animal and plant pathogens. Aspergillus fumigatus causes the majority of Aspergillus human infections, however, inability to identify bona-fide virulence factors has impeded therapeutic advances of this recalcitrant mold. Recently an A. fumigatus mutant, DlaeA, has been characterized that is reduced in virulence. LaeA is a transcriptional regulator of secondary metabolism in the Aspergilli and the A. fumigatus DlaeA mutant is impaired in the production of numerous secondary metabolites including mycotoxins (including gliotoxin, helvolic acid, fumagillin) and spore metabolites. Loss of virulence is associated with loss of gliotoxin levels and associated reduced mortality and growth in a pulmonary murine model, increased susceptibility to macrophage phagocytosis and decreased ability to kill neutrophil cells. The overall goal of this research is to elucidate the mechanisms leading to decreased virulence of the DlaeA mutant with emphasis on identifying the secondary metabolites contributing to pathogenicity.
Specific aims i nclude:
Aim 1. Determine the contribution of loss of gliotoxin production to the DlaeA phenotype. This will be achieved through examination of a gliotoxin mutant, DgliZ, and comparison of this mutant to DlaeA and WT for virulence in pulmonary murine model and macrophage and neutrophil assays.
Aim 2. Identify genes of other mycelial and conidial secondary metabolites involved in A. fumigatus pathogenicity. The method will consist of identifying the genes involved in biosynthesis of mycelial metabolites via microarray analysis in vitro (media) and in vivo (mouse lung). Chemical purification of spore metabolites followed by reverse genetics will be employed to identify encoding genes.
Aim 3. Functional analysis of A. fumigatus secondary metabolites. Genes identified in Aim 2 will be disrupted, mutant chemically defined and examined for virulence as in Aim 1. Advances from this work will result in identification of virulence factors conferring pathogenicity to Aspergillus fumigatus. Knowledge of virulence factors will lead to therapies to help protect the public from infections from this life threatening mold.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01AI065728-05
Application #
7791416
Study Section
Pathogenic Eukaryotes Study Section (PTHE)
Program Officer
Duncan, Rory A
Project Start
2006-05-01
Project End
2012-04-30
Budget Start
2010-05-01
Budget End
2012-04-30
Support Year
5
Fiscal Year
2010
Total Cost
$340,773
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Wisconsin Madison
Department
Microbiology/Immun/Virology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
161202122
City
Madison
State
WI
Country
United States
Zip Code
53715
Clevenger, Kenneth D; Ye, Rosa; Bok, Jin Woo et al. (2018) Interrogation of Benzomalvin Biosynthesis Using Fungal Artificial Chromosomes with Metabolomic Scoring (FAC-MS): Discovery of a Benzodiazepine Synthase Activity. Biochemistry 57:3237-3243
Robey, Matthew T; Ye, Rosa; Bok, Jin Woo et al. (2018) Identification of the First Diketomorpholine Biosynthetic Pathway Using FAC-MS Technology. ACS Chem Biol 13:1142-1147
Rank, Leslie A; Walsh, Naomi M; Lim, Fang Yun et al. (2018) Peptide-Like Nylon-3 Polymers with Activity against Phylogenetically Diverse, Intrinsically Drug-Resistant Pathogenic Fungi. mSphere 3:
Lind, Abigail L; Lim, Fang Yun; Soukup, Alexandra A et al. (2018) An LaeA- and BrlA-Dependent Cellular Network Governs Tissue-Specific Secondary Metabolism in the Human Pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus. mSphere 3:
Jain, Sachin; Sekonyela, Relebohile; Knox, Benjamin P et al. (2018) Selenate sensitivity of a laeA mutant is restored by overexpression of the bZIP protein MetR in Aspergillus fumigatus. Fungal Genet Biol 117:1-10
Rank, Leslie A; Walsh, Naomi M; Liu, Runhui et al. (2017) A Cationic Polymer That Shows High Antifungal Activity against Diverse Human Pathogens. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 61:
Wiemann, Philipp; Perevitsky, Adi; Lim, Fang Yun et al. (2017) Aspergillus fumigatus Copper Export Machinery and Reactive Oxygen Intermediate Defense Counter Host Copper-Mediated Oxidative Antimicrobial Offense. Cell Rep 19:1008-1021
Choera, Tsokyi; Zelante, Teresa; Romani, Luigina et al. (2017) A Multifaceted Role of Tryptophan Metabolism and Indoleamine 2,3-Dioxygenase Activity in Aspergillus fumigatus-Host Interactions. Front Immunol 8:1996
Vargas-Muñiz, José M; Renshaw, Hilary; Waitt, Greg et al. (2017) Caspofungin exposure alters the core septin AspB interactome of Aspergillus fumigatus. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 485:221-226
Clevenger, Kenneth D; Bok, Jin Woo; Ye, Rosa et al. (2017) A scalable platform to identify fungal secondary metabolites and their gene clusters. Nat Chem Biol 13:895-901

Showing the most recent 10 out of 40 publications