cFungi and many other eukaryotes use specialized mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) of the Hog1/p38 family to transduce environmental stress signals. In Aspergillus nidulans, the MAPK SakA and the transcription factor AtfA are components of a central multiple stress-signaling pathway that also regulates development. Here we characterize SrkA, a putative MAPK-activated protein kinase, as a novel component of this pathway. ⌬srkA and ⌬sakA mutants share a derepressed sexual development phenotype. However, ⌬srkA mutants are not sensitive to oxidative stress, and in fact, srkA inactivation partially suppresses the sensitivity of ⌬sakA mutant conidia to H 2 O 2 , tert-butyl-hydroperoxide (t-BOOH), and menadione. In the absence of stress, SrkA shows physical interaction with nonphosphorylated SakA in the cytosol. We show that H 2 O 2 induces a drastic change in mitochondrial morphology consistent with a fission process and the relocalization of SrkA to nuclei and mitochondria, depending on the presence of SakA. SakA-SrkA nuclear interaction is also observed during normal asexual development in dormant spores. Using SakA and SrkA S-tag pulldown and purification studies coupled to mass spectrometry, we found that SakA interacts with SrkA, the stress MAPK MpkC, the PPT1-type phosphatase AN6892, and other proteins involved in cell cycle regulation, DNA damage response, mRNA stability and protein synthesis, mitochondrial function, and other stress-related responses. We propose that oxidative stress induces DNA damage and mitochondrial fission and that SakA and SrkA mediate cell cycle arrest and regulate mitochondrial function during stress. Our results provide new insights into the mechanisms by which SakA and SrkA regulate the remodelling of cell physiology during oxidative stress and development. W e have proposed that when life was confronted with oxidative stress, cells evolved mechanisms not only to defend against reactive oxygen species (ROS) but also to use this ancestral form of stress to regulate their own growth and differentiation (1, 2). Indeed, the regulated production of ROS by enzymes of the NADPH oxidase family (NOX) is essential for sexual differentiation in Aspergillus nidulans (3) and Neurospora crassa and for polar growth and cell fusion in N. crassa (4), and NOX enzymes play multiple signaling functions in other fungal (5-10), animal, and plant species (11). However, little is known about ROS perception and the mechanisms by which ROS exert their signaling functions.The use of phosphorelay systems to perceive oxidative stress and other types of environmental stress is conserved in bacteria, plants (12), and fungi (13). The fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe uses a multistep phosphorelay composed of the Mak2/3 sensor histidine kinases, Mpr1 HPt protein, and Mcs4 response regulator to transmit H 2 O 2 stress signals to the Spc1 (also known as StyI) mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade (14,15). Spc1 is homologous to Saccharomyces cerevisiae Hog1 and mammalian p38 MAPKs, which are also...