HMGB proteins are required for sexual development in Aspergillus nidulans

Aspergillus nidulans has three high mobility group box (HMGB) proteins, HmbA, HmbB and HmbC that are chromatin-associated architectural proteins involved in DNA-related functions. By creating and studying deletion strains in both veA(+) and veA1 background, we have characterized the role of HmbA, HmbB and HmbC in sexual development. Expression of the mating-type MAT1-1 and MAT1-2 coding genes were found to be extremely down-regulated in all three mutants on day 4 of sexual development, which results in deficient ascospore production and/or ascospore viability in the mutants. In addition, we found that HmbA and HmbB play also a role in sensing of and response to environmental signals, while HmbC functionally interacts with VeA, a key regulator of the coordination of asexual and sexual development, as well as of secondary metabolism.