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Daly P, Zhou D, Shen D, Chen Y, Xue T, Chen S, Zhang Q, Zhang J, McGowan J, Cai F, Pang G, Wang N, Sheikh TMM, Deng S, Li J, Soykam HO, Kara I, Fitzpatrick DA, Druzhinina IS, Bayram Akcapinar G, Wei L. Genome of Pythium myriotylum Uncovers an Extensive Arsenal of Virulence-Related Genes among the Broad-Host-Range Necrotrophic Pythium Plant Pathogens. Microbiol Spectr 2022; 10:e0226821. [PMID: 35946960 PMCID: PMC9430622 DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.02268-21] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2021] [Accepted: 06/30/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The Pythium (Peronosporales, Oomycota) genus includes devastating plant pathogens that cause widespread diseases and severe crop losses. Here, we have uncovered a far greater arsenal of virulence factor-related genes in the necrotrophic Pythium myriotylum than in other Pythium plant pathogens. The genome of a plant-virulent P. myriotylum strain (~70 Mb and 19,878 genes) isolated from a diseased rhizome of ginger (Zingiber officinale) encodes the largest repertoire of putative effectors, proteases, and plant cell wall-degrading enzymes (PCWDEs) among the studied species. P. myriotylum has twice as many predicted secreted proteins than any other Pythium plant pathogen. Arrays of tandem duplications appear to be a key factor of the enrichment of the virulence factor-related genes in P. myriotylum. The transcriptomic analysis performed on two P. myriotylum isolates infecting ginger leaves showed that proteases were a major part of the upregulated genes along with PCWDEs, Nep1-like proteins (NLPs), and elicitin-like proteins. A subset of P. myriotylum NLPs were analyzed and found to have necrosis-inducing ability from agroinfiltration of tobacco (Nicotiana benthamiana) leaves. One of the heterologously produced infection-upregulated putative cutinases found in a tandem array showed esterase activity with preferences for longer-chain-length substrates and neutral to alkaline pH levels. Our results allow the development of science-based targets for the management of P. myriotylum-caused disease, as insights from the genome and transcriptome show that gene expansion of virulence factor-related genes play a bigger role in the plant parasitism of Pythium spp. than previously thought. IMPORTANCE Pythium species are oomycetes, an evolutionarily distinct group of filamentous fungus-like stramenopiles. The Pythium genus includes several pathogens of important crop species, e.g., the spice ginger. Analysis of our genome from the plant pathogen Pythium myriotylum uncovered a far larger arsenal of virulence factor-related genes than found in other Pythium plant pathogens, and these genes contribute to the infection of the plant host. The increase in the number of virulence factor-related genes appears to have occurred through the mechanism of tandem gene duplication events. Genes from particular virulence factor-related categories that were increased in number and switched on during infection of ginger leaves had their activities tested. These genes have toxic activities toward plant cells or activities to hydrolyze polymeric components of the plant. The research suggests targets to better manage diseases caused by P. myriotylum and prompts renewed attention to the genomics of Pythium plant pathogens.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul Daly
- Key Lab of Food Quality and Safety of Jiangsu Province—State Key Laboratory Breeding Base, Institute of Plant Protection, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing, China
| | - Dongmei Zhou
- Key Lab of Food Quality and Safety of Jiangsu Province—State Key Laboratory Breeding Base, Institute of Plant Protection, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing, China
| | - Danyu Shen
- College of Plant Protection, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China
| | - Yifan Chen
- Key Lab of Food Quality and Safety of Jiangsu Province—State Key Laboratory Breeding Base, Institute of Plant Protection, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing, China
- School of Environment and Safety Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China
| | - Taiqiang Xue
- Key Lab of Food Quality and Safety of Jiangsu Province—State Key Laboratory Breeding Base, Institute of Plant Protection, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing, China
| | - Siqiao Chen
- Key Lab of Food Quality and Safety of Jiangsu Province—State Key Laboratory Breeding Base, Institute of Plant Protection, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing, China
- Jiangsu Provincial Key Lab of Organic Solid Waste Utilization, Fungal Genomics Laboratory (FungiG), Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China
| | - Qimeng Zhang
- Key Lab of Food Quality and Safety of Jiangsu Province—State Key Laboratory Breeding Base, Institute of Plant Protection, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing, China
| | - Jinfeng Zhang
- Key Lab of Food Quality and Safety of Jiangsu Province—State Key Laboratory Breeding Base, Institute of Plant Protection, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing, China
| | - Jamie McGowan
- Genome Evolution Laboratory, Maynooth University, Maynooth, Ireland
| | - Feng Cai
- Jiangsu Provincial Key Lab of Organic Solid Waste Utilization, Fungal Genomics Laboratory (FungiG), Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China
- School of Ecology, Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Guan Pang
- Jiangsu Provincial Key Lab of Organic Solid Waste Utilization, Fungal Genomics Laboratory (FungiG), Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China
| | - Nan Wang
- Key Lab of Food Quality and Safety of Jiangsu Province—State Key Laboratory Breeding Base, Institute of Plant Protection, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing, China
| | - Taha Majid Mahmood Sheikh
- Key Lab of Food Quality and Safety of Jiangsu Province—State Key Laboratory Breeding Base, Institute of Plant Protection, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing, China
| | - Sheng Deng
- Key Lab of Food Quality and Safety of Jiangsu Province—State Key Laboratory Breeding Base, Institute of Plant Protection, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing, China
| | - Jingjing Li
- Key Lab of Food Quality and Safety of Jiangsu Province—State Key Laboratory Breeding Base, Institute of Plant Protection, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing, China
| | - Hüseyin Okan Soykam
- Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Institute of Health Sciences, Acibadem Mehmet Ali Aydinlar University, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Irem Kara
- Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Institute of Health Sciences, Acibadem Mehmet Ali Aydinlar University, Istanbul, Turkey
| | | | - Irina S. Druzhinina
- Jiangsu Provincial Key Lab of Organic Solid Waste Utilization, Fungal Genomics Laboratory (FungiG), Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China
- Department of Accelerated Taxonomy, The Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, London, United Kingdom
| | - Günseli Bayram Akcapinar
- Department of Medical Biotechnology, Institute of Health Sciences, Acibadem Mehmet Ali Aydinlar University, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Lihui Wei
- Key Lab of Food Quality and Safety of Jiangsu Province—State Key Laboratory Breeding Base, Institute of Plant Protection, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing, China
- School of Environment and Safety Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China
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Raj S, K H, Nair RA. Anti-microbial and cytotoxic activity of ZzAMP, a serine protease inhibitor (SPI) with nutraceutical potential from rhizomes of medicinal plant, Zingiber zerumbet. Nat Prod Res 2022; 36:6375-6380. [PMID: 35105207 DOI: 10.1080/14786419.2022.2032046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Serine protease Inhibitors (SPIs) abundantly reported in plant storage organs constitute important candidate molecules for antimicrobial and anticancer therapeutics. Our earlier studies had identified antimicrobial protein/or peptides (AMP) from Zingiber zerumbet rhizomes designated ZzAMP inhibiting serine protease (SP) of necrotrophic phytopathogen, Pythium myriotylum. Considering the high ethno-medicinal applications of Z. zerumbet rhizomes, present study evaluated the anti-bacterial, anti-oxidant and cytotoxic properties of ZzAMP. Though ZzAMP displayed low radical scavenging activity (IC50 1000 µg/ml), it exhibited considerable anti-bacterial activity towards the nosocomial pathogen Klebsiella pneumonia (93%), which produced maximal extracellular protease (30.6 ± 1.47 U/ml) amongst the pathogens screened. Evaluation of cytotoxic activity of ZzAMP revealed decrease in viability of cancer cell line, HeLa (IC50 115.09 μg/ml) compared to normal cells, L929 (IC50 299.95 μg/ml). Present experiments showing antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities of ZzAMP with minimal damage to normal cells are indicative of its potential as a promising nutraceutical protein.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sharmila Raj
- School of Biotechnology, National Institute of Technology Calicut, Calicut, India
| | - Harshitha K
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Central University of Kerala (CUK), Kasaragod, Kerala
| | - R Aswati Nair
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Central University of Kerala (CUK), Kasaragod, Kerala
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