PmZapA orchestrates zinc homeostasis and pleiotropic stress responses to drive pathogenicity in Talaromyces marneffei.

PmZapA is a master regulator of zinc homeostasis in Talaromyces marneffei, directly controlling zinc transporter gene expression and enabling virulence in a larval infection model.

• Why it matters: Zinc regulation is critical for pathogenic microbes, but the role of the ZapA zinc regulator in T. marneffei has been largely unexplored.
• What they did: The study identified the ZapA homolog, then used PmzapA deletion, growth and pigment assays under zinc conditions, and Galleria mellonella larval infections, alongside RNA-seq and ChIP-seq.
• The result: The ΔPmzapA strain severely impaired growth under zinc conditions, reduced pigment production, and showed significantly attenuated virulence, with pleiotropic defects in ROS clearance, cell wall stress resistance, and alkaline pH susceptibility.