10.6084/m9.figshare.7937312.v1 Ye-Eun Son Ye-Eun Son Won-Hee Jung Won-Hee Jung Sang-Hun Oh Sang-Hun Oh Jin-Hwan Kwak Jin-Hwan Kwak Maria E. Cardenas Maria E. Cardenas Hee-Soo Park Hee-Soo Park Mon1 Is Essential for Fungal Virulence and Stress Survival in <i>Cryptococcus neoformans</i> Taylor & Francis Group 2019 Cryptococcus neoformans Mon1 virulence 2019-04-02 09:07:52 Figure https://tandf.figshare.com/articles/figure/Mon1_Is_Essential_for_Fungal_Virulence_and_Stress_Survival_in_i_Cryptococcus_neoformans_i_/7937312 <p>Mon1 is a guanine nucleotide exchange factor subunit that activates the Ypt7 Rab GTPase and is essential for vacuole trafficking and autophagy in eukaryotic organisms. Here, we identified and characterized the function of Mon1, an ortholog of <i>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</i> Mon1, in a human fungal pathogen, <i>Cryptococcus neoformans</i>. Mutation in <i>mon1</i> resulted in hypersensitivity to thermal stress. The <i>mon1</i> deletion mutant exhibited increased sensitivity to cell wall and endoplasmic reticulum stress. However, the <i>mon1</i> deletion mutant showed more resistance to the antifungal agent fluconazole. <i>In vivo</i> studies demonstrated that compared to the wild-type strain, the <i>mon1</i> deletion mutant attenuated virulence in the <i>Galleria mellonella</i> insect model. Moreover, the <i>mon1</i> deletion mutant was avirulent in the murine inhalation model. These results demonstrate that Mon1 plays a crucial role in stress survival and pathogenicity in <i>C. neoformans</i>.</p>