APR1 — Aspergillus fumigatus

Summary

AFU3G11400 (APR1, also known as pep2, AfPEP4, or AfAPR1) on chromosome 3 of Aspergillus fumigatus encodes an aspartic endopeptidase (EC 3.4.23.25) belonging to the aspartic peptidase A1 family, with oligosaccharide and disordered domain specific binding activities. The gene is associated with proteolysis, secretion, morphogenesis, cell growth, and amino acid anabolism, as well as immune and inflammatory responses. It is linked to vacuolar lumen and fungal-type vacuole localisation, the cytoplasm-to-vacuole targeting (Cvt) pathway, microautophagy, and pexophagy. Phenotypic associations include abnormal sporulation efficiency, delayed autophagy and pexophagy, decreased micronucleophagy, absent cell cycle progression and chromosome segregation, arrested anaphase, abnormal vesicle distribution and plasma membrane morphology, and altered fermentative and respiratory metabolism. Related genes in other species link the family to reduced virulence and altered cell death.