- Cabrera, Ilva E;
- Pacentine, Itallia V;
- Lim, Andrew;
- Guerrero, Nayeli;
- Krystofova, Svetlana;
- Li, Liande;
- Michkov, Alexander V;
- Servin, Jacqueline A;
- Ahrendt, Steven R;
- Carrillo, Alexander J;
- Davidson, Liza M;
- Barsoum, Andrew H;
- Cao, Jackie;
- Castillo, Ronald;
- Chen, Wan-Ching;
- Dinkchian, Alex;
- Kim, Stephanie;
- Kitada, Sho M;
- Lai, Taffani H;
- Mach, Ashley;
- Malekyan, Cristin;
- Moua, Toua R;
- Torres, Carlos Rojas;
- Yamamoto, Alaina;
- Borkovich, Katherine A
G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) regulate facets of growth, development, and environmental sensing in eukaryotes, including filamentous fungi. The largest predicted GPCR class in these organisms is the Pth11-related, with members similar to a protein required for disease in the plant pathogen Magnaporthe oryzae. However, the Pth11-related class has not been functionally studied in any filamentous fungal species. Here, we analyze phenotypes in available mutants for 36 GPCR genes, including 20 Pth11-related, in the model filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa. We also investigate patterns of gene expression for all 43 predicted GPCR genes in available datasets. A total of 17 mutants (47%) possessed at least one growth or developmental phenotype. We identified 18 mutants (56%) with chemical sensitivity or nutritional phenotypes (11 uniquely), bringing the total number of mutants with at least one defect to 28 (78%), including 15 mutants (75%) in the Pth11-related class. Gene expression trends for GPCR genes correlated with the phenotypes observed for many mutants and also suggested overlapping functions for several groups of co-transcribed genes. Several members of the Pth11-related class have phenotypes and/or are differentially expressed on cellulose, suggesting a possible role for this gene family in plant cell wall sensing or utilization.