The mating type locus protein MAT1-2-1 of Trichoderma reesei interacts with Xyr1 and regulates cellulase gene expression in response to light

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 7; no. 1; pp. 17346 - 13
• Main Authors: Zheng, Fanglin, Cao, Yanli, Wang, Lei, Lv, Xinxing, Meng, Xiangfeng, Zhang, Weixin, Chen, Guanjun, Liu, Weifeng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 11.12.2017; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 42/41; 631/208/325/1507; 631/326/193/2484; 82/111; Carbon - metabolism; Carbon sources; Cellobiohydrolase; Cellulase; Cellulase - genetics; Cellulase - metabolism; Cellulolytic fungi; Chromatin; Chromatin Immunoprecipitation; Fungal Proteins - genetics; Fungal Proteins - metabolism; Gene expression; Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal - radiation effects; Homology; Humanities and Social Sciences; Immunoprecipitation; Lactose; Light; Mating; multidisciplinary; Physiology; Promoter Regions, Genetic; Protein Interaction Domains and Motifs - radiation effects; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Transcription activation; Transcription factors; Trichoderma - genetics; Trichoderma - metabolism; Trichoderma - radiation effects; Trichoderma reesei; Yeast
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-17439-2

Cellulase production in the model cellulolytic fungus Trichoderma reesei is subject to a variety of environmental and physiological conditions involving an intricate regulatory network with multiple transcription factors. Here, we identified the mating type locus protein MAT1-2-1 as an interacting partner for the key transcriptional activator Xyr1 of T. reesei cellulase genes. Yeast two-hybrid and GST pulldown analyses revealed that MAT1-2-1 directly interacted with the putative transcription activation domain (AD, 767~940 aa) and the middle homology region (MHR2, 314~632 aa) of Xyr1. Disruption of the mat1-2-1 gene compromised the induced expression of cellulase genes with Avicel in response to light or with lactose. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) demonstrated that MAT1-2-1 was recruited to the cbh1 (cellobiohydrolase 1-encoding) gene promoter in a Xyr1-dependent manner. These results strongly support an important role of MAT1-2-1 as a physiological cofactor of Xyr1, and suggest that MAT1-2-1 represents another regulatory node that integrates the light response with carbon source signaling to fine tune cellulase gene transcription.