Manipulation of cytokinin level in the ergot fungus Claviceps purpurea emphasizes its contribution to virulence

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F61989592%3A15310%2F18%3A73591286" target="_blank" >RIV/61989592:15310/18:73591286 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00294-018-0847-3" target="_blank" >https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00294-018-0847-3</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00294-018-0847-3" target="_blank" >10.1007/s00294-018-0847-3</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Manipulation of cytokinin level in the ergot fungus Claviceps purpurea emphasizes its contribution to virulence

Original language description

Pathogen-derived cytokinins (CKs) have been recognized as important virulence factor in several host-pathogen interactions and it was demonstrated multiple times that phytopathogenic fungi form CKs via the tRNA degradation pathway. In contrast to previous studies, the focus of this study is on the second step of CK formation and CK degradation to improve our understanding of the biosynthesis in fungi on the one hand, and to understand CK contribution to the infection process of Claviceps purpurea on the other hand. The ergot fungus Claviceps purpurea is a biotrophic phytopathogen with a broad host range including economically important crops causing harvest intoxication upon infection. Its infection process is restricted to unfertilized ovaries without causing macroscopic defense symptoms. Thus, sophisticated host manipulation strategies are implicated. The cytokinin (CK) plant hormones are known to regulate diverse plant cell processes, and several plant pathogens alter CK levels during infection. C. purpurea synthesizes CKs via two mechanisms, and fungus-derived CKs influence the host-pathogen interaction but not fungus itself. CK deficiency in fungi with impact on virulence has only been achieved to date by deletion of a tRNA-ipt gene that is also involved in a process of translation regulation. To obtain a better understanding of CK biosynthesis and CKs&apos; contribution to the plant-fungus interaction, we applied multiple approaches to generate strains with altered or depleted CK content. The first approach is based on deletion of the two CK phosphoribohydrolase (LOG)-encoding genes, which are believed to be essential for the release of active CKs. Single and double deletion strains were able to produce all types of CKs. Apparently, log gene products are dispensable for the formation of CKs and so alternative activation pathways must be present. The CK biosynthesis pathway remains unaffected in the second approach, because it is based on heterologous overexpression of CK-degrading enzymes from maize (ZmCKX1). Zmckx1 overexpressing C. purpurea strains shows strong CKX activity and drastically reduced CK levels. The strains are impaired in virulence, which reinforces the assumption that fungal-derived CKs are crucial for full virulence. Taken together, this study comprises the first analysis of a log depletion mutant that proved the presence of alternative cytokinin activation pathways in fungi and showed that heterologous CKX expression is a suitable approach for CK level reduction.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

10608 - Biochemistry and molecular biology

Project

Result was created during the realization of more than one project. More information in the Projects tab.

Continuities

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)

Publication year

2018

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

CURRENT GENETICS

ISSN

0172-8083

e-ISSN

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Volume of the periodical

64

Issue of the periodical within the volume

6

Country of publishing house

US - UNITED STATES

Number of pages

17

Pages from-to

1303-1319

UT code for WoS article

000449259500015

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85047814645