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Science 13 June 2008:
Vol. 320. no. 5882, pp. 1504 - 1506
DOI: 10.1126/science.1155888
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Reports

VelB/VeA/LaeA Complex Coordinates Light Signal with Fungal Development and Secondary Metabolism

Özgür Bayram,1 Sven Krappmann,1* Min Ni,2 Jin Woo Bok,3 Kerstin Helmstaedt,1,4 Oliver Valerius,1 Susanna Braus-Stromeyer,1 Nak-Jung Kwon,2 Nancy P. Keller,3 Jae-Hyuk Yu,2 Gerhard H. Braus1{dagger}

Differentiation and secondary metabolism are correlated processes in fungi that respond to light. In Aspergillus nidulans, light inhibits sexual reproduction as well as secondary metabolism. We identified the heterotrimeric velvet complex VelB/VeA/LaeA connecting light-responding developmental regulation and control of secondary metabolism. VeA, which is primarily expressed in the dark, physically interacts with VelB, which is expressed during sexual development. VeA bridges VelB to the nuclear master regulator of secondary metabolism, LaeA. Deletion of either velB or veA results in defects in both sexual fruiting-body formation and the production of secondary metabolites.

1 Institute of Microbiology and Genetics, Georg August University, D-37077 Göttingen, Germany.
2 Department of Bacteriology and Department of Genetics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
3 Department of Plant Pathology and Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
4 Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) Research Center for Molecular Physiology of the Brain (CMPB), D-37077 Göttingen, Germany.

* Present address: Zentrum für Infektionsforschung, University of Würzburg, D-97070 Würzburg, Germany.

{dagger} To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: gbraus{at}gwdg.de

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)