The homeobox domain-containing transcription factors play an important role in the growth, development, and secondary metabolism in fungi and other eukaryotes. In this study, we characterized the roles of the genes coding for homeobox-type proteins in the model organism Aspergillus nidulans. To examine their roles in A. nidulans, the deletion mutant strains for each gene coding for homeobox-type protein were generated, and their phenotypes were examined. Phenotypic analyses revealed that two homeobox proteins, HbxA and HbxB, were required for conidia production. Deletion of hbxA caused abnormal conidiophore production, decreased the number of conidia in both light and dark conditions, and decreased the size of cleistothecia structures. Overexpressing hbxA enhanced the production of asexual spores and formation of conidiophore under the liquid submerged conditions. The hbxB deletion mutant strains exhibited decreased asexual spore production but increased cleistothecia production. The absence of hbxB decreased the trehalose content in asexual spores and increased their sensitivity against thermal and oxidative stresses. The ΔhbxA strains produced more sterigmatocystin, which was decreased in the ΔhbxB strain. Overall, our results show that HbxA and HbxB play crucial roles in the differentiation and secondary metabolism of the fungus A. nidulans.

含同源框结构域的转录因子在真菌和其他真核生物的生长，发育和次级代谢中起重要作用。在这项研究中，我们表征了模式生物nidulans中编码同源异型盒型蛋白的基因的作用。为了检查它们在构巢曲霉中的作用，产生了编码同源异型盒型蛋白的每个基因的缺失突变株，并检查了它们的表型。表型分析表明，分生孢子产生需要两种同源盒蛋白HbxA和HbxB。删除hbxA会导致异常分生孢子产生，在明亮和黑暗条件下都减少了分生孢子的数量，并减少了鞘膜组织的大小。过度表达在液体浸没条件下，hbxA增强了无性孢子的产生和分生孢子的形成。所述HBXB表现出缺失突变体菌株无性孢子产生，但增加了生产闭囊壳下降。hbxB的缺乏降低了无性孢子中的海藻糖含量，并提高了其对热和氧化应激的敏感性。该Δ hbxA菌株产生更多的杂色曲霉素，它是在Δ降低HBXB应变。总体而言，我们的结果表明，HbxA和HbxB在构巢曲霉的分化和次级代谢中起关键作用。