The first member of the velvet family of proteins, VeA, regulates sexual development and secondary metabolism in the filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans. In our study, through comparative proteome analysis using wild type and veA-deletion strains, new putative regulators of sexual development were identified and functionally analyzed. Among these, SvfA, containing a yeast survival factor 1 domain, plays multiple roles in the growth and differentiation of A. nidulans. Deletion of the svfA gene resulted in increased sensitivity to oxidative and cold stress as in yeast. The svfA-deletion strain showed an increase in bi-polar germination and a decrease in radial growth rate. The deletion strain formed structurally abnormal conidiophores and thus produced lower amounts of conidiospores during asexual development. The svfA-deletion strain produced few Hülle cells and small cleistothecia with no ascospores, indicating the requirement of svfA for the completion of sexual development. Transcription and genetic analyses indicated that SvfA modulates the expression of key development regulatory genes. Western blot analysis revealed two forms of SvfA. The larger form showed sexual-specific and VeA-dependent production. Also, the deletion of svfA caused decreased ST (sterigmatocystin) production. We propose that SvfA is a novel central regulator of growth, differentiation and secondary metabolism in A. nidulans.

天鹅绒蛋白质家族的第一个成员VeA调节丝状真菌构巢曲霉的性发育和次级代谢。在我们的研究中，通过使用野生型和veA缺失菌株进行比较蛋白质组分析，确定并功能分析了新的假定的性发育调节剂。其中，含有酵母生存因子1结构域的SvfA在A的生长和分化中起多种作用。尼杜兰人。所述缺失svfA基因导致对氧化和冷胁迫增加的敏感性，如酵母。该svfA-缺失菌株显示出双极发芽的增加和径向生长速率的降低。缺失菌株形成结构异常的分生孢子，因此在无性发育过程中产生较少量的分生孢子。所述svfA-缺失菌株产生几Hülle细胞和小闭囊壳没有子囊孢子，表明的要求svfA为进行性发展的完成。转录和遗传分析表明，SvfA调节关键发育调控基因的表达。蛋白质印迹分析揭示了两种形式的SvfA。较大的形式显示出性别特异性和VeA依赖性生产。另外，删除svfA导致ST（葡萄球菌毒素）产量下降。我们提出SvfA是构巢曲霉的生长，分化和次级代谢的新型中央调节器。