The cation diffusion facilitator (CDF) family of zinc transporters plays a crucial role in zinc homeostasis in eukaryotes, including fungi. Here, we investigated the cell functions and genetic interactions of CDF zinc transporters zrc-1 and msc-2 in Neurospora crassa. The Δzrc-1 mutant could not grow in a high-zinc environment, indicating that the zinc transporter protein ZRC-1 was essential for growth in high-zinc conditions. However, the deletion of msc-2 did not show any severe phenotypic defects. Furthermore, we studied the genetic interactions of the zinc transporters using the CDF double mutants. Previously, zrg-17 was reported to be critical, where the Δzrg-17 mutant showed defects in both vegetative development and asexual sporulation. Interestingly, the Δmsc-2;Δzrg-17 double mutant showed phenotypes similar to the wild type, and restored the phenotypic defects of the Δzrg-17 mutation. However, the Δzrc-1;Δmsc-2 and Δzrc-1;Δzrg-17 double mutants continue to display phenotypic defects like their parental single mutants. The double mutant Δzrc-1;Δzrg-17 showed severe vegetative growth defects, including slow growth, short aerial hyphae, narrowed septation, and defective asexual sporulation. In addition, aerial hyphae development of the Δzrc-1;Δmsc-2 and Δzrc-1;Δzrg-17 double mutants were reduced under endoplasmic reticulum stress. Thus, this study revealed the cell functions and genetic interactions of zrc-1, msc-2, and zrg-17 for vegetative development and tolerance to stress conditions in N. crassa.

锌转运蛋白的阳离子扩散促进剂 (CDF) 家族在真核生物（包括真菌）的锌稳态中发挥着至关重要的作用。在这里，我们研究了粗糙脉孢菌中CDF锌转运蛋白zrc-1和msc-2的细胞功能和遗传相互作用。Δzrc -1突变体不能在高锌环境中生长，表明锌转运蛋白ZRC-1对于高锌条件下的生长至关重要。然而， MSC-2的删除并没有显示出任何严重的表型缺陷。此外，我们使用 CDF 双突变体研究了锌转运蛋白的遗传相互作用。此前，zrg-17被报道至关重要，其中Δzrg -17突变体在营养发育和无性孢子形成方面均表现出缺陷。有趣的是，Δmsc -2；Δzrg -17双突变体表现出与野生型相似的表型，并且恢复了Δzrg -17突变体的表型缺陷。然而，Δ zrc-1;Δmsc-2和 Δ zrc-1 ;Δ zrg-17双突变体继续表现出像其亲本单突变体一样的表型缺陷。双突变体Δzrc -1；Δzrg -17表现出严重的营养生长缺陷，包括生长缓慢、气生菌丝短、间隔狭窄和无性孢子形成缺陷。此外，在内质网应激下，Δ zrc-1;Δmsc-2和 Δ zrc-1 ;Δ zrg-17双突变体的气生菌丝发育减少。因此，本研究揭示了zrc-1、msc-2和zrg-17对粗糙猪笼草营养发育和应激条件耐受性的细胞功能和遗传相互作用。