MRH1 — Aspergillus fumigatus

Summary

AFU7G01430 (MRH1, also known as nopA) encodes a putative opsin with a fungal rhodopsin domain, annotated for trans retinal binding, monoatomic ion channel activity, and photoreceptor activity. The gene is associated with response to light stimulus and phototransduction, as well as TCA cycle and carbohydrate metabolism. Its product localizes to the ER, plasmalemma, and membrane. MRH1 is linked to increased thermotolerance, altered cell cycle progression (including M phase and G2 phase duration changes, metaphase arrest, and delayed metaphase-anaphase transition), increased anaerobic growth, abnormal colony color, altered stress responses (oxidative stress, desiccation resistance, freeze-thaw resistance, starvation resistance), abnormal cell death, adhesion defects, and abnormal cytoskeleton and cytokinesis. Related genes in other species link the family to lifespan and sporulation.