Phosphoribosylamidotransferase, the first enzyme for purine de novo synthesis, is required for conidiation in the sclerotial mycoparasite Coniothyrium minitans

Electrochemistry detection of estrogenic effect: Regulation of de novo purine synthesis and catabolism by gibberellin and fulvestrant

The estrogenic effect of plant growth regulators has been received little attention, which leads to the lack of relevant toxicity data. In this study, the estrogenic effect induced by gibberellin with ERα-dependent manner was found by E-screen and western blot methods, and the electrochemical signals of MCF-7 cells regulated by gibberellin and fulvestrant were investigated. The results showed that the electrochemical signals of MCF-7 cells were increased by gibberellin, while reduced by fulvestrant significantly, and displayed an extremely sensitive response to the effects of estrogenic effect induced by ERα agonist and antagonist. Western blot results showed that the expressions of phosphoribosyl pyrophosphate amidotransferase and hypoxanthine nucleotide dehydrogenase in de novo purine synthesis and adenine deaminase in catabolism were more effective regulated by gibberellin and fulvestrant, resulting in significant changes of the levels of guanine, hypoxanthine and xanthine in cells, and then electrochemical signals. The results provide a theoretical basis for the establishment of new electrochemical detection method of the estrogenic effect of plant regulators.

Purine metabolism in plant pathogenic fungi

In eukaryotic cells, purine metabolism is the way to the production of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA) and plays key roles in various biological processes. Purine metabolism mainly consists of de novo, salvage, and catabolic pathways, and some components of these pathways have been characterized in some plant pathogenic fungi, such as the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae and wheat head blight fungus Fusarium graminearum. The enzymatic steps of the de novo pathway are well-conserved in plant pathogenic fungi and play crucial roles in fungal growth and development. Blocking this pathway inhibits the formation of penetration structures and invasive growth, making it essential for plant infection by pathogenic fungi. The salvage pathway is likely indispensable but requires exogenous purines, implying that purine transporters are functional in these fungi. The catabolic pathway balances purine nucleotides and may have a conserved stage-specific role in pathogenic fungi. The significant difference of the catabolic pathway in planta and in vitro lead us to further explore and identify the key genes specifically regulating pathogenicity in purine metabolic pathway. In this review, we summarized recent advances in the studies of purine metabolism, focusing on the regulation of pathogenesis and growth in plant pathogenic fungi.

De novo purine nucleotide biosynthesis mediated by MoAde4 is required for conidiation, host colonization and pathogenicity in Magnaporthe oryzae

Amidophosphoribosyltransferase catalyzes the conversion of 5-phosphoribosyl-1-pyrophosphate into 5-phosphoribosyl-1-amine in the de novo purine biosynthetic pathway. Herein, we identified and characterized the functions of MoAde4, an orthologue of yeast Ade4 in Magnaporthe oryzae. MoAde4 is a 537-amino acid protein containing GATase_6 and pribosyltran domains. MoADE4 transcripts were highly expressed during the conidiation, early-infection, and late-infection stages of the fungus. Disruption of the MoADE4 gene resulted in ΔMoade4 exhibiting adenine, adenosine, and hypoxanthine auxotrophy on minimal medium. Conidia quantification assays showed that sporulation was significantly reduced in the ΔMoade4 mutant. The conidia of ΔMoade4 could still form appressoria but mostly failed to penetrate the rice cuticle. Pathogenicity tests showed that ΔMoade4 was completely nonpathogenic on rice and barley leaves, which was attributed to restricted infectious hyphal growth within the primary cells. The ΔMoade4 mutant was defective in the induction of strong host immunity. Exogenous adenine partially rescued conidiation, infectious hyphal growth, and the pathogenicity defects of the ΔMoade4 mutant on barley and rice leaves. Taken together, our results demonstrated that purine nucleotide biosynthesis orchestrated by MoAde4 is required for fungal development and pathogenicity in M. oryzae. These findings therefore act as a suitable target for antifungal development against recalcitrant plant fungal pathogens. KEY POINTS: • MoAde4 is crucial for de novo purine nucleotide biosynthesis. • MoAde4 is pivotal for conidiogenesis and appressorium development of M. oryzae. • MoAde4 is involoved in the pathogenicity of M. oryzae.

The genus Paraconiothyrium: species concepts, biological functions, and secondary metabolites

The genus Paraconiothyrium has worldwide distribution with diverse host habitats and exhibits potential utilisation as biocontrol agent, bioreactor and antibiotic producer. In this review, we firstly comprehensively summarise the current taxonomic status of Paraconiothyrium species, including their category names, morphological features, habitats, and multigene phylogenetic relationships. Some Paraconiothyrium species possess vital biological functions and potential applications in medicine, agriculture, industry, and environmental protection. A total of 147 secondary metabolites have been reported so far from Paraconiothyrium, among which 95 are novel. This paper serves to provide an overview of their diverse structures with chemical classification and biological activities. To date, 27 species of Paraconiothyrium have been documented; however, only seven have been investigated for their secondary metabolites or biological functions. Our review is expected to draw more attention to this genus for providing a taxonomic reference, discovering extensive biological functions, and searching in-depth for new bioactive natural products.

CmAim24 Is Essential for Mitochondrial Morphology, Conidiogenesis, and Mycoparasitism in Coniothyrium minitans

Coniothyrium minitans is an important mycoparasite of the notorious phytopathogenic fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum The mycoparasitism system of C. minitans-S. sclerotiorum is unique and important in probing fungi and fungal interactions. Here, we report a conidiation-deficient mutant, ZS-1TN1961, which was screened from a transfer DNA (T-DNA) insertional library of C. minitans A single-copy gene, encoding a protein with high sequence similarity to Aim24 (altered inheritance of mitochondria protein 24) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, was disrupted by T-DNA insertion in this mutant. Gene replacement and complementation experiments confirmed that mutants lacking CmAim24 exhibited significantly reduced conidial production and germination as well as reduced sclerotial mycoparasitic ability. Furthermore, cellular localization assays showed that CmAim24 localized to mitochondria, and abnormal mitochondria were observed in the ΔCmAim24 mutant. The ΔCmAim24 mutant exhibited significant accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and a reduced ATP content in mycelia. In summary, our results suggest that CmAim24 plays a key role in mitochondrial architecture and function, conidiogenesis, and mycoparasitism in C. minitans IMPORTANCE Aim24 proteins are involved in mitochondrial biogenesis and accumulate between the two membranes of a mitochondrion. Their function in prokaryotes and filamentous fungi is as yet unknown. In the present study, we characterized an Aim24 protein, CmAim24, in the mycoparasite Coniothyrium minitans and proved its critical role in mitochondrial morphology and function, conidiogenesis, conidial germination, and mycoparasitism to S. sclerotiorum.

A comprehensive mechanistic model of iron metabolism in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The ironome of budding yeast (circa 2019) consists of approximately 139 proteins and 5 nonproteinaceous species. These proteins were grouped according to location in the cell, type of iron center(s), and cellular function. The resulting 27 groups were used, along with an additional 13 nonprotein components, to develop a mesoscale mechanistic model that describes the import, trafficking, metallation, and regulation of iron within growing yeast cells. The model was designed to be simultaneously mutually autocatalytic and mutually autoinhibitory - a property called autocatinhibitory that should be most realistic for simulating cellular biochemical processes. The model was assessed at the systems' level. General conclusions are presented, including a new perspective on understanding regulatory mechanisms in cellular systems. Some unsettled issues are described. This model, once fully developed, has the potential to mimic the phenotype (at a coarse-grain level) of all iron-related genetic mutations in this simple and well-studied eukaryote.

Uninterrupted Expression of CmSIT1 in a Sclerotial Parasite Coniothyrium minitans Leads to Reduced Growth and Enhanced Antifungal Ability

Coniothyrium minitans is an important mycoparasite of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. In addition, it also produces small amounts of antifungal substances. ZS-1TN1812, an abnormal mutant, was originally screened from a T-DNA insertional library. This mutant showed abnormal growth phenotype and could significantly inhibit the growth of S. sclerotiorum when dual-cultured on a PDA plate. When spraying the filtrate of ZS-1TN1812 on the leaves of rapeseed, S. sclerotiorum infection was significantly inhibited, suggesting that the antifungal substances produced by this mutant were effective on rapeseed leaves. The thermo-tolerant antifungal substances could specifically suppress the growth of S. sclerotiorum, but could not significantly suppress the growth of another fungus, Colletotrichum higginsianum. However, C. higginsianum was more sensitive to proteinous antibiotics than S. sclerotiorum. The T-DNA insertion in ZS-1TN1812 activated the expression of CmSIT1, a gene involved in siderophore-mediated iron transport. It was also determined that mutant ZS-1TN1812 produced hypha with high iron levels. In the wild-type strain ZS-1, CmSIT1 was expressed only when in contact with S. sclerotiorum, and consistent overexpression of CmSIT1 showed similar phenotypes as ZS-1TN1812. Therefore, activated expression of CmSIT1 leads to the enhanced antifungal ability, and CmSIT1 is a potential gene for improving the control ability of C. minitans.

A Novel MFS Transporter Gene ChMfs1 Is Important for Hyphal Morphology, Conidiation, and Pathogenicity in Colletotrichum higginsianum

Colletotrichum higginsianum is a widely distributed fungus attacking many cruciferous species. To investigate pathogenic mechanisms of the pathogen on the host Arabidopsis thaliana, we screened and obtained a virulence-deficient mutant Ch-1-T513 in a T-DNA insertion mutant library of C. higginsianum. The mutant Ch-1-T513 produced yellow colony centers with distorted multi-branching hyphal tips as well as producing few conidia. Heavily swollen hyphae in the mutant could be observed, and intra-hyphal hyphae were found to be formed in the balloon-shaped hyphae. The mutant failed to produce lesions on 12-day-old Arabidopsis seedlings, and invasive hyphae did not differentiate into large primary and thin secondary hyphae after appressorial formation on Arabidopsis leaves, but formed abundant bulbous hyphae in epidermal cells. Southern blot analysis showed Ch-1-T513 had double-site T-DNA integrations. The mutant had insertions upstream of genes for a major facilitator superfamily (MFS) transporter, ChMfs1 and an aldo/keto reductase, ChAkr. Complementation experiments by transforming genomic sequences from a wild-type strain into the insertion mutant demonstrated that ChMfs1 is involved in the Ch-1-T513 phenotype. The complementation strain C-ChMfs1-1 exhibited normal hyphal morphology, conidiation, and pathogenicity identical to the wild-type. The results demonstrate that ChMfs1 is involved in intra-hyphal hyphae production, conidiation, and pathogenicity in C. higginsianum. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a MFS transporter gene in a phytopathogenic fungus associated with intra-hyphal hyphae formation, playing a key role in infection of its plant host.

A HOPS protein, CmVps39, is required for vacuolar morphology, autophagy, growth, conidiogenesis and mycoparasitic functions of Coniothyrium minitans

Coniothyrium minitans is an important sclerotial and hyphal parasite of the plant pathogen Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. Previously, a conidiation-deficient mutant, ZS-1N22225, was screened from a T-DNA insertional library of C. minitans. CmVps39, a homologue of Vam6p/Vps39p that plays a critical role in vacuolar morphogenesis in yeast, was disrupted by a T-DNA insertion in this mutant. CmVps39 is composed of 1071 amino acids with an amino-terminal citron homology domain and a central clathrin homology domain, as observed for other Vam6p/Vps39p family proteins. Abnormal fragmented vacuoles were observed in ΔCmVps39 under light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy, and ΔCmVps39 showed impairment in autophagy. ΔCmVps39 also exhibited significantly reduced hyphal development, poor conidiation and decreased sclerotial mycoparasitism. In addition, deletion of CmVps39 affected osmotic adaptation, pH homeostasis and cell wall integrity. Taken together, our results suggest that CmVps39 has an essential function in vacuolar morphology, autophagy, fungal development and mycoparasitism in C. minitans.

Nox Complex signal and MAPK cascade pathway are cross-linked and essential for pathogenicity and conidiation of mycoparasite Coniothyrium minitans

The NADPH oxidase complex of a sclerotial mycoparasite Coniothyrium minitans, an important biocontrol agent against crop diseases caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, was identified and its functions involved in conidiation and mycoparasitism were studied. Gene knock-out and complementary experiments indicated that CmNox1, but not CmNox2, is necessary for conidiation and parasitism, and its expression could be significantly induced by its host fungus. CmNox1 is regulated by CmRac1-CmNoxR and interacts with CmSlt2, a homolog of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Slt2 encoding cell wall integrity-related MAP kinase. In ΔCmNox1, CmSlt2-GFP fusion protein lost the ability to localize to the cell nucleus accurately. The defect of conidiation in ΔCmRac1 could be partially restored by over-expressing CmSlt2, indicating that CmSlt2 was a downstream regulatory factor of CmNox1 and was involved in conidiation and parasitism. The expressions of mycoparasitism-related genes CmPks1, Cmg1 and CH1 were suppressed in the knock-out mutants of the genes in CmNox1-CmSlt2 signal pathway when cultivated either on PDA. Therefore, our study infers that CmRac1-CmNoxR regulates CmNox1-CmSlt2 pathway in regulating conidiation and pathogenicity of C. minitans.

Deregulation of purine pathway in Bacillus subtilis and its use in riboflavin biosynthesis

Background

Purine nucleotides are essential metabolites for living organisms because they are involved in many important processes, such as nucleic acid synthesis, energy supply, and biosynthesis of several amino acids and riboflavin. Owing to the pivotal roles of purines in cell physiology, the pool of intracellular purine nucleotides must be maintained under strict control, and hence the de novo purine biosynthetic pathway is tightly regulated by transcription repression and inhibition mechanism. Deregulation of purine pathway is essential for this pathway engineering in Bacillus subtilis.

Results

Deregulation of purine pathway was attempted to improve purine nucleotides supply, based on a riboflavin producer B. subtilis strain with modification of its rib operon. To eliminate transcription repression, the pur operon repressor PurR and the 5’-UTR of pur operon containing a guanine-sensing riboswitch were disrupted. Quantitative RT-PCR analysis revealed that the relative transcription levels of purine genes were up-regulated about 380 times. Furthermore, site-directed mutagenesis was successfully introduced into PRPP amidotransferase (encoded by purF) to remove feedback inhibition by homologous alignment and analysis. Overexpression of the novel mutant PurF (D293V, K316Q and S400W) significantly increased PRPP amidotransferase activity and triggered a strong refractory effect on purine nucleotides mediated inhibition. Intracellular metabolite target analysis indicated that the purine nucleotides supply in engineered strains was facilitated by a stepwise gene-targeted deregulation. With these genetic manipulations, we managed to enhance the metabolic flow through purine pathway and consequently increased riboflavin production 3-fold (826.52 mg/L) in the purF-VQW mutant strain.

Conclusions

A sequential optimization strategy was applied to deregulate the rib operon and purine pathway of B. subtilis to create genetic diversities and to improve riboflavin production. Based on the deregulation of purine pathway at transcription and metabolic levels, an extended application is recommended for the yield of products, like inosine, guanosine, adenosine and folate which are directly stemming from purine pathway in B. subtilis.

Identification of virulence genes in the crucifer anthracnose fungus Colletotrichum higginsianum by insertional mutagenesis

To investigate the molecular and genetic mechanisms underlying virulence of Colletotrichum higginsianum on Arabidopsis thaliana, a T-DNA insertion mutant library of C. higginsianum, the causal agent of crucifer anthracnose, was established using Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation. Among 875 transformants tested for virulence on Arabidopsis, six mutants with altered virulence, including an appressorial melanin-deficient mutant T734, two mutants defective in penetration, T45 and B30, and three mutants, T679, T732 and T801, that cause hypersensitive reactions on host Arabidopsis, were obtained. Southern blot analysis indicated that the mutants T732 and T734 harbored single-site T-DNA integrations, while B30 harbored two T-DNA insertions. Border flanking sequences of T-DNAs from these mutants were recovered by inverse polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and thermal asymmetric interlaced PCR. Sequence analyses revealed that single T-DNA insertions in mutant T734 targeted the coding region of a gene with unknown function, and in mutant T732 targeted a gene encoding a copper amine oxidase. The two T-DNA insertion sites in mutant B30 were found in the coding region of a gene encoding an exosome component and in the upstream region of a DUF221-domain gene. None of these genes have previously been implicated in virulence of the phytopathogenic fungi. Among these avirulent mutants, T734 showed altered color in colony growth and produced melanin-deficient, albino appressoria. The T-DNA insert in T734 was detected in the coding region of a gene named C. higginsianum melanin-deficiency gene (Ch-MEL1), which is highly similar to a gene encoding a hypothetical protein in Colletotrichum gloeosporioides (GenBank ELA33048). To validate whether the Ch-MEL1 gene was associated with virulence of the mutant T734, a targeted gene disruption and complementation approach was used. The appressoria of ▵Ch-mel1 null mutants were defective in melanization and failed to penetrate the host epidermal cells. When inoculated onto the wounded leaf tissues, the ▵Ch-mel1 mutants grew on host tissues but failed to cause lesions beyond the wound site. In contrast, both the complement C▵Ch-mel1-2 and the wild type produced melanized appressoria and caused necrosis on leaves of Arabidopsis. Ch-MEL1 is required for both appressorial melanin production in C. higginsianum and post-invasive growth in host tissues. Together with identification of other avirulent mutants and their associated genes, this study provides novel insights into molecular mechanisms underlying virulence of the hemibiotroph, C. higginsianum.

CmPEX6, a gene involved in peroxisome biogenesis, is essential for parasitism and conidiation by the sclerotial parasite Coniothyrium minitans

Coniothyrium minitans is a sclerotial parasite of the plant-pathogenic fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, and conidial production and parasitism are two important aspects for commercialization of this biological control agent. To understand the mechanism of conidiation and parasitism at the molecular level, we constructed a transfer DNA (tDNA) insertional library with the wild-type strain ZS-1. A conidiation-deficient mutant, ZS-1TN22803, was uncovered through screening of this library. This mutant could produce pycnidia on potato dextrose agar (PDA), but most were immature and did not bear conidia. Moreover, this mutant lost the ability to parasitize or rot the sclerotia of S. sclerotiorum. Analysis of the tDNA flanking sequences revealed that a peroxisome biogenesis factor 6 (PEX6) homolog of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, named CmPEX6, was disrupted by the tDNA insertion in this mutant. Targeted gene replacement and gene complementation tests confirmed that a null mutation of CmPEX6 was responsible for the phenotype of ZS-1TN22803. Further analysis showed that both ZS-1TN22803 and the targeted replacement mutants could not grow on PDA medium containing oleic acid, and they produced much less nitric oxide (NO) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) than wild-type strain ZS-1. The conidiation of ZS-1TN22803 was partially restored by adding acetyl-CoA or glyoxylic acid to the growth media. Our results suggest that fatty acid β-oxidation, reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, and possibly other unknown pathways in peroxisomes are involved in conidiation and parasitism by C. minitans.

Transcriptome and proteome exploration to provide a resource for the study of Agrocybe aegerita

BACKGROUND

Agrocybe aegerita, the black poplar mushroom, has been highly valued as a functional food for its medicinal and nutritional benefits. Several bioactive extracts from A. aegerita have been found to exhibit antitumor and antioxidant activities. However, limited genetic resources for A. aegerita have hindered exploration of this species.

METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS

To facilitate the research on A. aegerita, we established a deep survey of the transcriptome and proteome of this mushroom. We applied high-throughput sequencing technology (Illumina) to sequence A. aegerita transcriptomes from mycelium and fruiting body. The raw clean reads were de novo assembled into a total of 36,134 expressed sequences tags (ESTs) with an average length of 663 bp. These ESTs were annotated and classified according to Gene Ontology (GO), Clusters of Orthologous Groups (COG), and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) metabolic pathways. Gene expression profile analysis showed that 18,474 ESTs were differentially expressed, with 10,131 up-regulated in mycelium and 8,343 up-regulated in fruiting body. Putative genes involved in polysaccharide and steroid biosynthesis were identified from A. aegerita transcriptome, and these genes were differentially expressed at the two stages of A. aegerita. Based on one-dimensional gel electrophoresis (1-DGE) coupled with electrospray ionization liquid chromatography tandem MS (LC-ESI-MS/MS), we identified a total of 309 non-redundant proteins. And many metabolic enzymes involved in glycolysis were identified in the protein database.

CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE

This is the first study on transcriptome and proteome analyses of A. aegerita. The data in this study serve as a resource of A. aegerita transcripts and proteins, and offer clues to the applications of this mushroom in nutrition, pharmacy and industry.

A fungal cell wall integrity-associated MAP kinase cascade in Coniothyrium minitans is required for conidiation and mycoparasitism

Coniothyrium minitans is an important biocontrol agent against Sclerotinia diseases. Previously, a conidiation-deficient mutant ZS-1T1000 was screened out from a T-DNA insertional library of C. minitans. CmBCK1, encoding MAP kinase kinase kinase and homologous to BCK1 of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, was disrupted by T-DNA insertion in this mutant. Targeted disruption of CmBCK1 led to the mutants undergoing autolysis and displaying hypersensitivity to the cell wall-degrading enzymes. The △CmBCK1 mutants lost the ability to produce pycnidia and conidia compared to the wild-type strain ZS-1. △CmBCK1 mutants could grow on the surface of sclerotia of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum but not form conidia, which resulted in much lower ability to reduce the viability of sclerotia of S. sclerotiorum. Furthermore, CmSlt2, a homolog of Slt2 encoding cell wall integrity-related MAP kinase and up-regulated by BCK1 in S. cerevisiae, was identified and targeted disrupted. The △CmSlt2 mutants had a similar phenotype to the △CmBCK1 mutants. The △CmSlt2 mutants also had autolytic aerial hyphae, hypersensitivity to cell wall-degrading enzymes, lack of conidiation and reduction of sclerotial mycoparasitism. Taken together, our results suggest that CmBCK1 and CmSlt2 are involved in conidiation and the hyperparasitic activities of C. minitans.