Podospora anserina target of rapamycin

We have isolated the Podospora anserina TOR gene. The PaTOR protein displayed strong identities with TOR proteins from other eukaryotes especially in the FRB domain and the kinase domain. Genome analysis suggests that a single TOR gene exists in Podospora. The serine residue known to be one site of missense mutations conferring rapamycin resistance in other organisms is conserved in the PaTOR protein (S1895). A PaTOR-S1895R mutated allele has been constructed and introduced in the wild-type strain, as expected strains expressing the PaTOR-S1895R gene become resistant to rapamycin. The dominance of the PaTOR-S1895R allele indicates that apparently the mutation does not impair the kinase activity. We confirm that all cytological modifications associated with rapamycin treatment in Podospora are indeed mediated by PaTOR. We conclude that the PaTOR gene is likely to be essential and that rapamycin treatment might be useful to further investigate rapamycin-sensitive TOR functions in Podospora and especially newly identified rapamycin-sensitive functions such as the autophagy-independent control of vacuole remodeling and septation.