Both size and shape. Some of the elongated conidia may be

Both size and shape. Some of the elongated conidia may be abnormal phialides that are released along with the conidia (arrow) (Scale bar = 20 mm). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0066741.gcreates a severe phenotypic defect, possibly lethality, which selects for suppressor mutations to compensate for the defect. We speculate that one or more such mutations have occurred within each of the DsrgA isolates, which improves the fitness of the fungusbeyond that of the original DsrgA strain. These could be multi-copy suppressors derived from other members of the Rab GTPase family, or mutations in genes in related pathways that can partially compensate for the absence of SrgA. Unfortunately, while geneticFigure 5. GFP-SrgA localizes to conidiophores. GFP-SrgA localizes to the apex of both hyphae and conidiophores. A punctate accumulation at the tip is seen in both hyphae and the early stages of vesicle swelling (top and middle rows, respectively), but a more diffuse localization is evident in mature conidiophores (bottom row). Left column: brightfield; middle column: GFP fluorescence; bottom column: Merged image. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0066741.gsec4 Homolog in A. fumigatusFigure 6. Loss of SrgA impairs hyphal growth. Equal numbers of conidia were plated on the center of a plate of solid AMM and colony diameter was measured every day during a four-day incubation period at the indicated temperatures. The experiment was performed in triplicate and the values represent the mean 18204824 6 SEM. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0066741.gmodels to identify suppressor mutations are well established in yeast, and have 23148522 been previously used to discover suppressors of Rab GTPase mutants [31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38], such techniques are poorly developed in A. fumigatus. Therefore, secondary mutations that may be contributing to the phenotypic heterogeneity of the DsrgA isolates remain to be Epigenetic Reader Domain identified. Despite the heterogeneity among DsrgA isolates, all of them shared the same phenotype of reduced radial growth rate and abnormal conidiation. This finding is consistent with the defects in polarized growth and sporulation reported for srgA-disruption mutants in A. niger [17]. Interestingly, only one of the three A. fumigatus DsrgA isolates had attenuated virulence, making it unclear whether it is the loss of srgA or associated compensatory mutations that contribute to reduced pathogenicity in this model. However, since the three isolates grow at the same rate in vitro, the observed reduction in pathogenicity is not simply due to a slower growth rate. Rather, attenuated virulence correlated more closely with Epigenetics stress response: the DsrgA isolates that exhibited a superior ability to adapt to in vitro stress showed wt virulence, whereas the isolate with the least resistance to in vitro stress had attenuated virulence. The findings from the current study demonstrate that A. fumigatus is capable of surviving without SrgA-specific functions. However, the unexpected phenotypic heterogeneity that accompanies the loss of SrgA suggests that a variety of mechanisms are triggered to compensate for the absence of SrgA, some of which may be suppressor mutations. Future studies to elucidate these compensatory changes may provide important insight into networks that support homeostasis of the secretory pathway in this important fungal pathogen.Figure 7. Sensitivity of DsrgA to ER stress. A: Equal numbers of conidia were added to individual wells of a 24-well plate containing liquid AMM media and the i.Both size and shape. Some of the elongated conidia may be abnormal phialides that are released along with the conidia (arrow) (Scale bar = 20 mm). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0066741.gcreates a severe phenotypic defect, possibly lethality, which selects for suppressor mutations to compensate for the defect. We speculate that one or more such mutations have occurred within each of the DsrgA isolates, which improves the fitness of the fungusbeyond that of the original DsrgA strain. These could be multi-copy suppressors derived from other members of the Rab GTPase family, or mutations in genes in related pathways that can partially compensate for the absence of SrgA. Unfortunately, while geneticFigure 5. GFP-SrgA localizes to conidiophores. GFP-SrgA localizes to the apex of both hyphae and conidiophores. A punctate accumulation at the tip is seen in both hyphae and the early stages of vesicle swelling (top and middle rows, respectively), but a more diffuse localization is evident in mature conidiophores (bottom row). Left column: brightfield; middle column: GFP fluorescence; bottom column: Merged image. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0066741.gsec4 Homolog in A. fumigatusFigure 6. Loss of SrgA impairs hyphal growth. Equal numbers of conidia were plated on the center of a plate of solid AMM and colony diameter was measured every day during a four-day incubation period at the indicated temperatures. The experiment was performed in triplicate and the values represent the mean 18204824 6 SEM. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0066741.gmodels to identify suppressor mutations are well established in yeast, and have 23148522 been previously used to discover suppressors of Rab GTPase mutants [31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38], such techniques are poorly developed in A. fumigatus. Therefore, secondary mutations that may be contributing to the phenotypic heterogeneity of the DsrgA isolates remain to be identified. Despite the heterogeneity among DsrgA isolates, all of them shared the same phenotype of reduced radial growth rate and abnormal conidiation. This finding is consistent with the defects in polarized growth and sporulation reported for srgA-disruption mutants in A. niger [17]. Interestingly, only one of the three A. fumigatus DsrgA isolates had attenuated virulence, making it unclear whether it is the loss of srgA or associated compensatory mutations that contribute to reduced pathogenicity in this model. However, since the three isolates grow at the same rate in vitro, the observed reduction in pathogenicity is not simply due to a slower growth rate. Rather, attenuated virulence correlated more closely with stress response: the DsrgA isolates that exhibited a superior ability to adapt to in vitro stress showed wt virulence, whereas the isolate with the least resistance to in vitro stress had attenuated virulence. The findings from the current study demonstrate that A. fumigatus is capable of surviving without SrgA-specific functions. However, the unexpected phenotypic heterogeneity that accompanies the loss of SrgA suggests that a variety of mechanisms are triggered to compensate for the absence of SrgA, some of which may be suppressor mutations. Future studies to elucidate these compensatory changes may provide important insight into networks that support homeostasis of the secretory pathway in this important fungal pathogen.Figure 7. Sensitivity of DsrgA to ER stress. A: Equal numbers of conidia were added to individual wells of a 24-well plate containing liquid AMM media and the i.