MAP Kinase and cAMP Signaling Pathways Modulate the pH-Induced Yeast-to-Mycelium Dimorphic Transition in the Corn Smut FungusUstilago maydis.

Acid pH induces the yeast-to-mycelium transition in haploid cells ofUstilago maydis. We tested two signal transduction pathways known to be involved in dimorphism for roles in acid-induced filamentation. In wild-type cells intracellular cAMP levels were reduced under acid growth. A mutant defective in the regulatory subunit of PKA,ubc1, failed to respond to acid induction on solid medium, but in liquid medium showed a mycelial phenotype at acid pH. Mutants in the pheromone-responsive MAP kinase pathway lost the capacity to grow as mycelium at acid pH, while a mutant in the pheromone response-transcriptional regulator,prf1, behaved as wild-type. Filamentation by bothubc1andprf1mutants was inhibited by addition of cAMP. A putative MAP kinase cascade adaptor protein gene,ubc2, complemented a previously identifiedmycmutant strain defective in pH-induced myceliation. These results indicate that pH-dependent dimorphism is regulated by two known signaling pathways but that an effector for cAMP signaling alternative to Ubc1 is present inU. maydisand that Prf1 is not the sole downstream target of MAP kinase signaling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]