Properties of the phosphate and phosphite transport systems of Phytophthora palmivora

Assessment of the ptxD gene as a growth and selective marker in Trichoderma atroviride using Pccg6, a novel constitutive promoter

Background

Trichoderma species are among the most effective cell factories to produce recombinant proteins, whose productivity relies on the molecular toolkit and promoters available for the expression of the target protein. Although inducible promoter systems have been developed for producing recombinant proteins in Trichoderma, constitutive promoters are often a desirable alternative. Constitutive promoters are simple to use, do not require external stimuli or chemical inducers to be activated, and lead to purer enzyme preparations. Moreover, most of the promoters for homologous and heterologous expression reported in Trichoderma have been commonly evaluated by directly assessing production of industrial enzymes, requiring optimization of laborious protocols.

Results

Here we report the identification of Pccg6, a novel Trichoderma atroviride constitutive promoter, that has similar transcriptional strength as that of the commonly used pki1 promoter. Pccg6 displayed conserved arrangements of transcription factor binding sites between promoter sequences of Trichoderma ccg6 orthologues genes, potentially involved in their regulatory properties. The predicted ccg6-encoded protein potentially belongs to the SPE1/SPI1 protein family and shares high identity with CCG6 orthologue sequences from other fungal species including Trichoderma reesei, Trichoderma virens, Trichoderma asperellum, and to a lesser extent to that of Neurospora crassa. We also report the use of the Pccg6 promoter to drive the expression of PTXD, a phosphite oxidoreductase of bacterial origin, which allowed T. atroviride to utilize phosphite as a sole source of phosphorus. We propose ptxD as a growth reporter gene that allows real-time comparison of the functionality of different promoters by monitoring growth of Trichoderma transgenic lines and enzymatic activity of PTXD. Finally, we show that constitutive expression of ptxD provided T. atroviride a competitive advantage to outgrow bacterial contaminants when supplied with phosphite as a sole source of phosphorus.

Conclusions

A new constitutive promoter, ccg6, for expression of homologous and heterologous proteins has been identified and tested in T. atroviride to express PTXD, which resulted in an effective and visible phenotype to evaluate transcriptional activity of sequence promoters. Use of PTXD as a growth marker holds great potential for assessing activity of other promoters and for biotechnological applications as a contamination control system.

Phosphite: a novel P fertilizer for weed management and pathogen control

The availability of orthophosphate (Pi) is a key determinant of crop productivity because its accessibility to plants is poor due to its conversion to unavailable forms. Weed's competition for this essential macronutrient further reduces its bio-availability. To compensate for the low Pi use efficiency and address the weed hazard, excess Pi fertilizers and herbicides are routinely applied, resulting in increased production costs, soil degradation and eutrophication. These outcomes necessitate the identification of a suitable alternate technology that can address the problems associated with the overuse of Pi-based fertilizers and herbicides in agriculture. The present review focuses on phosphite (Phi) as a novel molecule for its utility as a fertilizer, herbicide, biostimulant and biocide in modern agriculture. The use of Phi-based fertilization will help to reduce the consumption of Pi fertilizers and facilitate weed and pathogen control using the same molecule, thereby providing significant advantages over current orthophosphate-based fertilization.

Transport and compartmentation of phosphite in higher plant cells--kinetic and P nuclear magnetic resonance studies

Phosphite (Phi, H(2)PO(3)(-)), being the active part of several fungicides, has been shown to influence not only the fungal metabolism but also the development of phosphate-deficient plants. However, the mechanism of phosphite effects on plants is still widely unknown. In this paper we analysed uptake, subcellular distribution and metabolic effects of Phi in tobacco BY-2 cells using in vivo(31)P nuclear magnetic resonance ((31)P-NMR) spectroscopy. Based on the kinetic properties of the phosphate transport system of tobacco BY-2 cells, it was demonstrated that phosphite inhibited phosphate uptake in a competitive manner. To directly follow the fate of phosphate and phosphite in cytoplasmic and vacuolar pools of tobacco cells, we took advantage of the pH-sensitive chemical shift of the Phi anion. The NMR studies showed a distinct cytoplasmic accumulation of Phi in Pi-deprived cells, whereas Pi resupply resulted in a rapid efflux of Phi. Pi-preloaded cells shifted Phi directly into vacuoles. These studies allowed for the first time to follow Phi flux processes in an in vivo setting in plants. On the other hand, the external Pi nutrition status and the metabolic state of the cells had a strong influence on the intracellular compartmentalization of xenobiotic Phi.

Phosphite, an analog of phosphate, suppresses the coordinated expression of genes under phosphate starvation

Phosphate (Pi) and its analog phosphite (Phi) are acquired by plants via Pi transporters. Although the uptake and mobility of Phi and Pi are similar, there is no evidence suggesting that plants can utilize Phi as a sole source of phosphorus. Phi is also known to interfere with many of the Pi starvation responses in plants and yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). In this study, effects of Phi on plant growth and coordinated expression of genes induced by Pi starvation were analyzed. Phi suppressed many of the Pi starvation responses that are commonly observed in plants. Enhanced root growth and root to shoot ratio, a hallmark of Pi stress response, was strongly inhibited by Phi. The negative effects of Phi were not obvious in plants supplemented with Pi. The expression of Pi starvation-induced genes such as LePT1, LePT2, AtPT1, and AtPT2 (high-affinity Pi transporters); LePS2 (a novel acid phosphatase); LePS3 and TPSI1 (novel genes); and PAP1 (purple acid phosphatase) was suppressed by Phi in plants and cell cultures. Expression of luciferase reporter gene driven by the Pi starvation-induced AtPT2 promoter was also suppressed by Phi. These analyses showed that suppression of Pi starvation-induced genes is an early response to addition of Phi. These data also provide evidence that Phi interferes with gene expression at the level of transcription. Synchronized suppression of multiple Pi starvation-induced genes by Phi points to its action on the early molecular events, probably signal transduction, in Pi starvation response.

Transport of small lons and molecules through the plasma membrane of filamentous fungi

Less than 1% of the estimated number of fungal species have been investigated concerning the transport of low-molecular-weight nutrients and metabolites through the plasma membrane. This is surprising if one considers the importance of the processes at the plasma membrane for the cell: this membrane mediates between the cell and its environment. Concentrating on filamentous fungi, in this review emphasis is placed on relating results from biophysical chemistry, membrane transport, fungal physiology, and fungal ecology. Among the treated subjects are the consequences of the small dimension of hyphae, the habitat and membrane transport, the properties of the plasma membrane, the efflux of metabolites, and the regulation of membrane transport. Special attention is given to methodological problems occurring with filamentous fungi. A great part of the presented material relies on work with Neurospora crassa, because for this fungus the most complete picture of plasma membrane transport exists. Following the conviction that we need "concepts instead of experiments", we delineate the lively network of membrane transport systems rather than listing the properties of single transport systems.