Fig. 4

Cellular processes that are essential for morphogenesis in filamentous fungi as deduced from transcriptomic studies. a Genes belonging to various key processes are transcriptionally deployed during submerged fungal growth in multiple species. Note, for each fungal species, it is common for several hundred differentially expressed genes to belong to each cohort. b Proposed gene-network controlling polarised growth and branching in A. niger [24]. (Phospho)lipid signalling molecules including phosphatidylinositol phosphates (PIP), phosphatidic acid (PA) and diaclyglycerol (DAG) are supposed to regulate the activity of the TORC2 complex, the activity of the protein kinase C (PKC) and might mobilise calcium from internal stores. TORC2 signalling likely plays a crucial role in maintaining polarity by directly controlling actin polarisation but also by inhibiting calcineurin signalling. TORC2 is also essential for cell wall biosynthesis due to activation of PKC, which is the initiating kinase of the cell wall integrity (CWI) pathway. Inositolphosphate (IP) is also proposed to control actin polarisation. For details, see [24]