1; Gibberella zeae, XP_381240.1; Paracoccidioides

brasiliensis, EEH45107.1; Aspergillus nidulans, EAA62332.1; S. cerevisiae, (Izh3p), NP_013123.1 and Ajellomyces capsulatus, EER42609.1. Yeast-based assay S. cerevisiae strain BY4742 cells (MATα his3Δ1 leu2Δ0 lys2Δ0 ura3Δ0) co-transformed with plasmids, YEp353 (FET3-lacZ) and pYES2CT (1μg each) with the S.c. EasyComp™ Transformation Kit (Invitrogen Corp. Carlsbad, CA, USA) was used for the ligand-binding assay. YEp353 (FET3-lacZ) JIB04 purchase contains a fragment of the FET3 promoter that includes the iron response element fused to lacZ driven by a minimal CYC1 promoter. The complete coding sequence of sspaqr1 gene was cloned into pYES2CT allowing galactose-inducible SsPAQR1 expression via GAL1 promoter. The YEp353 (FET3-lacZ) and pGREG536 w/wo the PAQR7 insert were generously provided by Dr. Thomas J. Lyons from the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution. Transformants were selected in SD (-leu/-ura). For the receptor activity assay, the transformants were grown overnight in synthetic defined (SD) media without the appropriate amino acids (OD600, 1-1.5). The overnight culture was used to inoculate 5 ml of find more LIM-Gal medium (low iron media, LIM-FE, with 2% galactose as carbon source) to induce full expression of the PAQR gene driven by the GAL1 promoter and incubated at 30°C with shaking. Five hundred μl of the cells were added to

4.5 ml LIM-GAL medium with the added ligand (50.0 μM thaumatin; 0.1μM adiponectin; 1.0 mM progesterone) (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA and DMXAA in vitro Phoenix Pharmaceuticals, Phoenix, AZ, USA) or the solvent alone (controls) and incubated overnight at 30°C with shaking. The cells were centrifuged and resuspended in 250 μl of breaking

buffer, OD600 of the suspension was determined and glass beads were added together with 12.5 μl of PMSF. The cells were vortexed at least 6 times with chilling period in between vortexing periods. More breaking buffer was added at the PJ34 HCl end (250μl), mixing well and the extract recovered. Ten μl of this extract were added to 990 μl of Z buffer (60 mM NaH2PO4, 40 mM Na2HPO4, 10mM KCl, 1 mM MgSO4, pH 7.0) and the mixture incubated at 28°C for 5 min. The reaction was initiated by adding 200 μl of a stock solution of ONPG (4 mg/ml) and the mixture incubated for 10 min at 28°C. The reaction was terminated by adding 500 μl of 1 mM Na2CO3 and the optical density recorded at 420 nm. For all experiment, equal volumes of the appropriate solvent were added to untreated cells as control for vehicle effects. The data shows the individual results obtained with 4 different colonies transformed with the above-mentioned plasmids. The data for PAQR 7 represents the combined data of 4 different colonies. Cyclic 3′, 5′-adenosine monophosphate assay (cAMP) S. schenckii yeast cells were grown from conidia for 4 days at 35°C as described previously [53]. Ten μl of ethanol or progesterone (0.