The roles of Gti1/Pac2 family proteins in fungal growth, morphogenesis, stress response and pathogenicity.

Gti1/Pac2 is a fungal specific transcription factor family with a stable and conserved N-terminal domains. Generally, there are two members in this family named as Gti1/Wor1/Rpy1/Mit1/Reg1/Ros1/Sge1 and Pac2, which are involving in fungal growth, development, stress response, spore production, pathogenicity and so on. The Gti1/Pac2 family proteins shared some conserved and distinct functions. For example, in Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Gti1 promotes the initiation of gluconate uptake during glucose starvation, while Pac2 controls the onset of sexual development in a pathway independent of the cAMP cascade. In recent two decades, more attention was focused on the Gti1 and its orthologs due to their significant effect on morphology switch and fungal virulence. By contrast, there are limited works on the functions of Pac2 which is required for stress responses and conidiation, but play minor roles in fungal virulence. In this review, we present an overview of our current understanding of the Gti1/Pac2 proteins that contribute to fungal development and/or pathogenicity and of the regulation mechanisms during infection related development. Understanding the working networks of the conserved Gti1/Pac2 transcription factors in fungal pathogenicity not only advances our knowledge of the highly elaborate infection process but may also lead to the development of novel strategies for the control of plant disease.