The schA expression upon osmotic stress is dependent on SakA. The wild-type, ΔsakA, ΔmpkCand ΔmpkC ΔsaKA mutants were grown for 18 h at 37°C. Then, sorbitol (1 M final concentration) was added for 0 (control), 10, 30, 60 and 120 min. The mycelium was harvested at the indicated times, and total RNA was extracted. The absolute quantitation of schA and tubC was determined by a standard curve (i.e., CT –values plotted against a logarithm of the DNA copy number). The results are the means (± standard deviation) of four biological replicates (*, p < 0.001, comparison of the treatments with wild-type).