A Class 1 Histone Deacetylase with Potential as an Antifungal Target

Histone deacetylases (HDACs) remove acetyl moieties from lysine residues at histone tails and nuclear regulatory proteins and thus significantly impact chromatin remodeling and transcriptional regulation in eukaryotes. In recent years, HDACs of filamentous fungi were found to be decisive regulators of genes involved in pathogenicity and the production of important fungal metabolites such as antibiotics and toxins. Here we present proof that one of these enzymes, the class 1 type HDAC RpdA, is of vital importance for the opportunistic human pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus. Recombinant expression of inactivated RpdA shows that loss of catalytic activity is responsible for the lethal phenotype of Aspergillus RpdA null mutants. Furthermore, we demonstrate that a fungus-specific C-terminal region of only a few acidic amino acids is required for both the nuclear localization and catalytic activity of the enzyme in the model organism Aspergillus nidulans. Since strains with single or multiple deletions of other classical HDACs revealed no or only moderate growth deficiencies, it is highly probable that the significant delay of germination and the growth defects observed in strains growing under the HDAC inhibitor trichostatin A are caused primarily by inhibition of catalytic RpdA activity. Indeed, even at low nanomolar concentrations of the inhibitor, the catalytic activity of purified RpdA is considerably diminished. Considering these results, RpdA with its fungus-specific motif represents a promising target for novel HDAC inhibitors that, in addition to their increasing impact as anticancer drugs, might gain in importance as antifungals against life-threatening invasive infections, apart from or in combination with classical antifungal therapy regimes.