The Gβ-like protein CpcB is required for hyphal growth, conidiophore morphology and pathogenicity in Aspergillus fumigatus

CpcB (cross pathway control B) encodes a yeast Cpc2 and mammalian RACK1 (receptor for activated protein kinase C) ortholog, which is a WD repeat protein with functional homology to the β subunit of heterotrimeric G proteins in Aspergillus fumigatus. Previous study has reported that CpcB governs growth and development in both A. fumigatus and Aspergillus nidulans. However, little is known about the functional identities of CpcB orthologs and their relationships with G protein complexes. In this study, we verified that cytoplasmic AfCpcB acts as a Gβ-like protein ortholog and plays important roles in hyphal growth, conidiophore morphology, cell wall integrity, and virulence in A. fumigatus. Furthermore, double deletion of AfcpcB and AfgpaB (Gα) causes a similar phenotype to AfgpaB mutant with abnormal multiple septa conidiophores but exhibits sparse conidiation with white and fluffy colonies. Thus, the exacerbated conidiation defect suggests that AfcpcB has its own specific function compared to the Gα subunit of AfgpaB or the G-protein complex. In addition, complementation assays using AfcpcB orthologs of A. nidulans and yeasts (Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Candida albicans) suggest that all tested fungal AfcpcB orthologs under the A. fumigatus native promoter can largely restore hyphal growth defects in AfcpcB deletion mutant, but only the A. nidulans cpcB ortholog completely rescues the ΔAfcpcB conidiation defect, suggesting that CpcB acts as a Gβ-like protein ortholog in the Aspergilli, but may have unique and important unexplored functions that required for conidiation, which is absent in yeast.