Cloning and characterization of Aspergillus nidulans vpsA gene which is involved in vacuolar biogenesis

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, vacuoles play very important roles in pH and osmotic regulation, protein degradation and storage of amino acids, small ions as well as polyphosphates. In filamentous fungi, however, little is known about vacuolar functions at a molecular level. In this paper, we report the isolation of the vpsA gene from the filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans as a homologue of the VPS1 gene of S. cerevisiae which encodes a dynamin-related protein. The vpsA gene encodes a polypeptide consisting of 696 amino acids that is nearly 60% homologous to the S. cerevisiae Vps1. Similar to Vps1, VpsA contains a highly conserved tripartite GTPase domain but lacks the pleckstrin homology domain and proline-rich region. The vpsA disruptant shows poor growth and contains highly fragmented vacuoles. These results suggest that A. nidulans VpsA functions in the vacuolar biogenesis.