Fig 5.

Genetic interaction between hstD and laeA. (A) Expression profile of laeA under the KA-producing condition. The adeA⁺ strain was used as a control. The culture time of the indicated strain is shown at the top of the panel. The results for rRNA, used as the loading control, are shown. (B) Analysis of morphology and SM production of the ΔhstD, ΔlaeA, and ΔhstD ΔlaeA strains. MM, morphological phenotype of the indicated strain on N agar medium; ×100, closeup stereomicroscopic images of the strains on N agar medium (magnification, ×100; bar, 500 μm; red arrows, examples of conidia); KA and PEN, plate assay or bioassay of kojic acid and penicillin, respectively. (C, D) Quantification of the conidiation rate and kojic acid production of the ΔhstD, ΔlaeA, and ΔhstD ΔlaeA strains, respectively. Except for panel A, the adeA⁺ sC⁺ strain was used as the control, and the ΔhstD sC⁺ and ΔlaeA sC⁺ strains represent the ΔhstD and ΔlaeA strains, respectively, in this figure. All data are represented as means ± SDs (n = 3); *, P < 0.01, t test.