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Vol. 18, Issue 6, 2123-2136, June 2007

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The Response Regulator RRG-1 Functions Upstream of a Mitogen-activated Protein Kinase Pathway Impacting Asexual Development, Female Fertility, Osmotic Stress, and Fungicide Resistance in Neurospora crassa

Carol A. Jones^*,,, Suzanne E. Greer-Phillips^*,,, and Katherine A. Borkovich^*,

*Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology and Program in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521

Submitted March 23, 2006; Revised March 6, 2007; Accepted March 16, 2007
Monitoring Editor: Ralph Isberg

Two-component systems, consisting of proteins with histidine kinase and/or response regulator domains, regulate environmental responses in bacteria, Archaea, fungi, slime molds, and plants. Here, we characterize RRG-1, a response regulator protein from the filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa. The cell lysis phenotype of rrg-1 mutants is reminiscent of osmotic-sensitive (os) mutants, including nik-1/os-1 (a histidine kinase) and strains defective in components of a mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway: os-4 (MAPK kinase kinase), os-5 (MAPK kinase), and os-2 (MAPK). Similar to os mutants, rrg-1 strains are sensitive to hyperosmotic conditions, and they are resistant to the fungicides fludioxonil and iprodione. Like os-5, os-4, and os-2 mutants, but in contrast to nik-1/os-1 strains, rrg-1 mutants do not produce female reproductive structures (protoperithecia) when nitrogen starved. OS-2-phosphate levels are elevated in wild-type cells exposed to NaCl or fludioxonil, but they are nearly undetectable in rrg-1 strains. OS-2-phosphate levels are also low in rrg-1, os-2, and os-4 mutants under nitrogen starvation. Analysis of the rrg-1^D921N allele, mutated in the predicted phosphorylation site, provides support for phosphorylation-dependent and -independent functions for RRG-1. The data indicate that RRG-1 controls vegetative cell integrity, hyperosmotic sensitivity, fungicide resistance, and protoperithecial development through regulation of the OS-4/OS-5/OS-2 MAPK pathway.

The online version of this article contains supplemental material at MBC Online (http://www.molbiolcell.org).

These authors contributed equally to this work.

Present address: Biology Department, Southwestern Adventist University, Keene, TX 76059.

Address correspondence to: Katherine A. Borkovich (katherine.borkovich{at}ucr.edu).

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