Ca(2+)/calmodulin-dependent kinase is essential for both growth and nuclear division in Aspergillus nidulans

JS Dayton and AR Means

Department of Pharmacology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA.

The calmodulin gene has been shown to be essential for cell cycle progression in a number of eukaryotic organisms. In vertebrates and Aspergillus nidulans the calmodulin dependence also requires calcium. We demonstrate that the unique gene encoding a multifunctional calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase (CaMK) is also essential in A. nidulans. This enzyme is required both for the nuclear division cycle and for hyphal growth, because spores containing the disrupted gene arrest with a single nucleus and fail to extend a germ tube. A strain conditional for the expression of CaMK was created. When grown under conditions that resulted in a 90% decrease in the enzyme, both nuclear division and growth were markedly slowed. The CaMK seems to be important for progression from G2 to mitosis.

Volume 7, Issue 10, pp. 1511-1519, 10/01/1996
Copyright © 1996 by The American Society for Cell Biology

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