Most fungi display a mixed mating system with both asexual and sexual reproduction. The timing of the two modes of reproduction must be carefully coordinated through signal perception and coordination in the cell along with chromatin modification. Here, we investigated coordination of reproductive output by investigating the function of the histone chaperone anti-silencing factor 1 (ASF1) in a fungal species amenable to characterization of both asexual and sexual reproduction. We used knockout approach to show that SeASF1 influenced asexual and sexual reproduction in Stemphylium eturmiunum. SeASF1-deleted strains failed to produce pseudothecia, but produce abnormal conidia and showed an irregular distribution of nuclei in mycelium. Transcriptome sequencing was then used to identify genes with altered expression in the SeASF1-deleted strains. The transcriptional expression of the identified SeDJ-1 was strongly regulated by SeASF1. The interaction of SeDJ-1 and SeASF1 was confirmed using Y2H, Co-IP, and pull-down. Due to some components of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B (PI3K/AKT) signaling pathway were known to interact with DJ-1 in mammals, we verified SePI3K, an element of PI3K/AKT signaling pathway in S. eturmiunum, was directly linked to SeDJ-1 and then these two proteins were defined as a coordinator of reproduction. However, knockout of SeDJ-1 or SePI3K altered the asexual and sexual reproduction, but SePI3K recovered the asexual and sexual development of ∆Sedj-1. The SeDJ-1-M6 segment of SeDJ-1 was essential for its interaction with SePI3K and played a critical role in restoring sexual reproduction in the ∆Sepi3k, providing a deep understanding of the regulatory mechanism of SeDJ-1 in S. eturmiunum development. Summarily, SeASF1 is able to trigger SeDJ-1 and SeDJ-1can also activate SePI3K, which is orchestrally involved in asexual and sexual reproduction in S. eturmiunum. All these results reveal that SeASF1 manipulates asexual and sexual reproduction in S. eturmiunum by SeDJ-1 perception of PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. These data highlight the deep similarities in coordinating asexual and sexual processes in both fungi and eukaryotes in general.

大多数真菌表现出无性繁殖和有性繁殖的混合交配系统。两种繁殖模式的时间必须通过细胞内的信号感知和协调以及染色质修饰来仔细协调。在这里，我们通过研究组蛋白伴侣抗沉默因子 1 (ASF1) 在适合无性和有性生殖特征的真菌物种中的功能来研究生殖输出的协调。我们使用敲除方法证明 SeASF1 影响Stemphylium eturmiunum的无性和有性繁殖。SeASF1缺失的菌株不能产生假囊泡，但产生异常的分生孢子，并且菌丝体中的细胞核分布不规则。然后使用转录组测序来鉴定 SeASF1 缺失菌株中表达发生改变的基因。所鉴定的 SeDJ-1 的转录表达受到 SeASF1 的强烈调控。使用 Y2H、Co-IP 和 Pull-down 证实了 SeDJ-1 和 SeASF1 的相互作用。由于已知哺乳动物中磷脂酰肌醇 3-激酶/蛋白激酶 B (PI3K/AKT) 信号通路的某些成分与 DJ-1 相互作用，因此我们验证了S. eturmiunum中 PI3K/AKT 信号通路的一个元件 SePI3K直接与 DJ-1 相互作用。与 SeDJ-1 连接，然后这两种蛋白质被定义为繁殖协调子。然而，SeDJ-1 或 SePI3K 的敲除改变了无性和有性生殖，但 SePI3K 恢复了 Δ Sedj-1的无性和有性发育。SeDJ-1 的 SeDJ-1-M6 片段对于其与 SePI3K 的相互作用至关重要，并且在恢复 Δ Sepi3k中的有性生殖方面发挥着关键作用，从而提供了对 SeDJ-1 在S. eturmiunum发育中的调节机制的深入理解。总之，SeASF1 能够触发 SeDJ-1，SeDJ-1 还可以激活 SePI3K，SePI3K 协调参与S. eturmiunum的无性和有性繁殖。所有这些结果表明，SeASF1 通过 SeDJ-1 对 PI3K/AKT 信号通路的感知来操纵S. eturmiunum的无性和有性繁殖。这些数据凸显了真菌和真核生物在协调无性和有性过程方面的深刻相似性。