Woronin bodies are fungal-specific organelles whose formation is derived from peroxisomes. The former are believed to be involved in the regulation of mycotoxins biosynthesis, but not in their damage repair function. The hexagonal peroxisome protein (HexA or Hex1) encoded by hexA gene in Aspergillus is the main and the essential component of the Woronin body. However, little is known about HexA in Aspergillus flavus. In this study, hexA knock-out mutant (ΔhexA) and complementation strain (ΔhexAC) were produced using homologous recombination. The results showed that, ΔhexA and ΔhexAC were successfully constructed. And the data analysis indicated that the colony diameter, stress sensitivity and the sclerotia formation of A. flavus were nearly not affected by the absence of HexA. Yet, the deletion of hexA gene reduced the production of asexual spores and lessened virulence on peanuts and maize seeds markedly. In addition, it was also found that there was a significant decrease of Aflatoxin B1 production in deletion mutant, when compared to wild type. Therefore, it suggested that the hexA gene has an essential function in conidia production and secondary metabolism in A. flavus. The gene is also believed to be playing an important role in the invasion of A. flavus to the host.

中文翻译：

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HexA是黄曲霉生长，黄曲霉毒素生物合成和毒力所必需的。

沃罗宁体是真菌特异的细胞器，其形成源自过氧化物酶体。据信前者参与真菌毒素生物合成的调节，但不涉及其损伤修复功能。曲霉菌中由hexA基因编码的六边形过氧化物酶体蛋白（HexA或Hex1）是Woronin身体的主要组成部分。但是，关于黄曲霉中HexA知之甚少。在这项研究中，使用同源重组产生了hexA敲除突变体（ΔhexA）和互补菌株（ΔhexAC）。结果表明，成功构建了ΔhexA和ΔhexAC。数据分析表明，HexA的缺失几乎不影响黄曲霉菌落的菌落直径，应力敏感性和菌核形成。然而，hexA基因的缺失显着减少了无性孢子的产生，并降低了花生和玉米种子的毒力。另外，还发现与野生型相比，缺失突变体中的黄曲霉毒素B1产生显着降低。因此，表明hexA基因在黄曲霉的分生孢子产生和次级代谢中具有必不可少的功能。还认为该基因在黄曲霉向宿主的侵袭中起重要作用。