Become A Wiser, More Profitable Investor

✅ Heterochromatin epimutations impose mitochondrial dysfunction to confer antifungal resistance

science

Global health and food supply are endangered by an increasing frequency of antifungal resistance in pathogenic fungi. Wild-type fission yeast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, can gain resistance to insults such as caffeine and antifungal compounds through reversible epimutations. Resistant epimutants exhibit histone H3K9 methylation-dependent heterochromatin islands at various chromosomal locations, reducing expression of underlying genes. Two genes whose heterochromatin island-induced repression causes resistance encode mitochondrial proteins: the LYR domain protein Cup1 and the Cox1 translation regulator Ppr4. Genetic mutations, cup1-tt and ppr4Delta, that phenocopy their respective epimutants, cause mitochondrial dysfunction, including respiratory deficiency, poor growth on non-glucose carbon sources, and elevated reactive oxygen species.

BioRxiv     Nov 13, 2024