Fig. 8
Pathogen-specific Kac motifs are critical regulators of fungal fitness in the host. a Screening strategy of Kac function in C. neoformans pathogenicity. Acetylome knockout library was constructed and screened for virulence attenuation. Knockout strains were then complemented with the wild-type, K-to-Q, and K-to-R mutated genes. The resulting strains were used for colony-forming unit (CFU) analysis. The CFU data were then plotted in an order of R-WT-Q, representing the level of protein acetylation. An increasing trend suggests an induction of virulence by Kac, a decreasing trend indicates a repression of virulence by Kac, and an unchanged trend shows no effect of acetylation in regulating virulence. b CFU analysis of mutation strains. Strains and mutated Kac sites are indicated. For each gene, the wild-type, Q, and R mutants were tested, except we could not obtain an STS41Q mutant complementation strain despite multiple attempts. CFUs from lungs (mice n = 7) were assayed and plotted using box plot. Student’s t test was applied
