Gfa1-dependent hexosamine metabolism maintains cell-wall integrity and developmental fitness required for crop colonization in Aspergillus flavus.
- 1Institute of Biological Sciences and Technology, Guangxi Academy of Sciences, Nanning, 530007, China.
- 2State Key Laboratory of Non-food Biomass Energy Technology, Nanning, Guangxi, 530007, China.
Abstract
The fungal cell wall is a dynamic structure whose composition and integrity are closely coupled to metabolism, morphogenesis, and environmental fitness. Glutamine fructose-6-phosphate amidotransferase (Gfa1), the committed enzyme of the hexosamine biosynthetic pathway, supplies precursors for UDP-N-acetylglucosamine production and cell-wall chitin synthesis. Although Gfa1 is essential for growth and virulence in Aspergillus fumigatus, its role in the cell-wall biology and developmental program of the aflatoxigenic fungus Aspergillus flavus remains unclear. Here, we characterized a gfa1 deletion mutant and a complemented strain of A. flavus. Loss of gfa1 caused glucosamine/N-acetylglucosamine auxotrophy and markedly impaired vegetative growth and conidiation. Despite amino-sugar supplementation, the mutant exhibited increased sensitivity to cell-wall perturbing agents and significant reductions in cell-wall chitin and glucan, indicating disrupted cell-wall homeostasis. Gfa1 deficiency also severely impaired sclerotial formation and increased sensitivity to several environmental stresses. Importantly, the mutant showed markedly reduced colonization of peanut and maize seeds and no detectable aflatoxin B1 accumulation under the conditions tested. Consistent with its broad fitness defects, Δgfa1 displayed strongly attenuated virulence in Galleria mellonella. These findings establish Gfa1-dependent hexosamine metabolism as an important determinant of cell-wall homeostasis and developmental competence in A. flavus and reveal a link between amino-sugar metabolism, fungal surface integrity, sclerotial differentiation, and crop-associated fitness.
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BibTeX
@article{qin2026gfa1dependent,
title = {{Gfa1-dependent hexosamine metabolism maintains cell-wall integrity and developmental fitness required for crop colonization in Aspergillus flavus.}},
author = {Qijian Qin and Bin Wang and Wenxia Fang},
journal = {Cell surface (Amsterdam, Netherlands)},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.tcsw.2026.100184},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42927285},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Gfa1-dependent hexosamine metabolism maintains cell-wall integrity and developmental fitness required for crop colonization in Aspergillus flavus.
AU - Qijian Qin
AU - Bin Wang
AU - Wenxia Fang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/15
JO - Cell surface (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
DO - 10.1016/j.tcsw.2026.100184
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42927285
AB - The fungal cell wall is a dynamic structure whose composition and integrity are closely coupled to metabolism, morphogenesis, and environmental fitness. Glutamine fructose-6-phosphate amidotransferase (Gfa1), the committed enzyme of the hexosamine biosynthetic pathway, supplies precursors for UDP-N-acetylglucosamine production and cell-wall chitin synthesis. Although Gfa1 is essential for growth and virulence in Aspergillus fumigatus, its role in the cell-wall biology and developmental program of the aflatoxigenic fungus Aspergillus flavus remains unclear. Here, we characterized a gfa1 deletion mutant and a complemented strain of A. flavus. Loss of gfa1 caused glucosamine/N-acetylglucosamine auxotrophy and markedly impaired vegetative growth and conidiation. Despite amino-sugar supplementation, the mutant exhibited increased sensitivity to cell-wall perturbing agents and significant reductions in cell-wall chitin and glucan, indicating disrupted cell-wall homeostasis. Gfa1 deficiency also severely impaired sclerotial formation and increased sensitivity to several environmental stresses. Importantly, the mutant showed markedly reduced colonization of peanut and maize seeds and no detectable aflatoxin B1 accumulation under the conditions tested. Consistent with its broad fitness defects, Δgfa1 displayed strongly attenuated virulence in Galleria mellonella. These findings establish Gfa1-dependent hexosamine metabolism as an important determinant of cell-wall homeostasis and developmental competence in A. flavus and reveal a link between amino-sugar metabolism, fungal surface integrity, sclerotial differentiation, and crop-associated fitness.
SN - 2468-2330
ER -