Aspergillus nidulans is a model filamentous fungus widely used in fungal development and metabolism studies [1,2]. A. nidulans propagates through both asexual and sexual spores, but asexual spores are their primary reproductive particle [3,4]. Spores germinate to form germ tubes and a web-like mass of fungal hyphae [5]. These hyphae acquire developmental competence and undergo asexual or sexual development, depending on the environmental conditions [6,7]. For example, light can induce the formation of asexual structures-the conidiophores-but sexual fruiting bodies-the cleistothecia-are formed in dark conditions [8,9]. These reproductive processes are regulated by a myriad of transcription factors and several signaling pathways [10,11]. In asexual development, BrlA, AbaA, and WetA are central transcription factors that control mRNA expression of development-related genes [6,12]. BrlA is a C 2 H 2 zinc-finger transcription factor that controls mRNA levels of abaA and other developmental genes [13]. AbaA induces mRNA expression of three key transcription factors: WetA, VosA, and VelB [14][15][16]. These transcription factors regulate asexual spore maturation, trehalose biosynthesis, and conidial stress tolerance [15,17]. Fungal species produce various primary and secondary metabolites during development [18]. Secondary metabolites that have detrimental effects on humans are called mycotoxins [19,20]. Sterigmatocystin produced by A. nidulans is a precursor aflatoxin and is considered as a group 2B carcinogen [21]. Sterigmatocystin biosynthesis depends on a gene cluster of which the AflR transcription factor is a key regulator [22][23][24]. Other important genes involved in sterigmatocystin production include MtfA, VeA, LaeA,.RNA-binding proteins play essential roles in the posttranscriptional regulation of gene expression in eukaryotes [29][30][31]. In fungi, RNA-binding proteins participate in various fundamental processes, including development, stress responses, filamentation, and pathogenesis [32,33]. The PUF (Pumilio/Fem-3 binding factor) family of canonical RNA-binding proteins is conserved among most eukaryotic systems [34]. The Pumilio in Drosophila melanogaster and Fem-3 binding factor (FBF) in Caenorhabditis elegans are the founding members of the PUF family proteins [35]. They contain several repeated PUF domains, which interact with sequencespecific RNA elements of their target. [35]. In Ascomycota fungi, PUF proteins recognize 8-to 10-nucleotide binding elements, reducing translational efficiency or by increasing its decay [36,37]. Most of the research on the RNA targets and the biological roles of the PUF proteins have been carried out in Saccharomyces cerevisiae [35,38,39]. S. cerevisiae contains six PUF proteins involved in posttranscriptional processes, mating type switching, lifespan, thermotolerance, cell wall integrity, and mitochondrial biogenesis [35,40]. For example, PUF6 targets RNA-binding proteins are involved in RNA metabolism and posttranscriptional regulation of various fundamental biolog...
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