MAPKK-encoding gene Ste7 in Bipolaris maydis is required for development and morphogenesis

The transcription factor Ste12-like increases the mycelial abiotic stress tolerance and regulates the fruiting body development of Flammulina filiformis

Introduction

Flammulina filiformis is one of the most commercially important edible fungi worldwide, with its nutritional value and medicinal properties. It becomes a good model species to study the tolerance of abiotic stress during mycelia growth in edible mushroom cultivation. Transcription factor Ste12 has been reported to be involved in the regulation of stress tolerance and sexual reproduction in fungi.

Methods

In this study, identification and phylogenetic analysis of ste12-like was performed by bioinformatics methods. Four ste12-like overexpression transformants of F. filiformis were constructed by Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation.

Results and Discussion

Phylogenetic analysis showed that Ste12-like contained conserved amino acid sequences. All the overexpression transformants were more tolerant to salt stress, cold stress and oxidative stress than wild-type strains. In the fruiting experiment, the number of fruiting bodies of overexpression transformants increased compared with wild-type strains, but the growth rate of stipes slowed down. It suggested that gene ste12-like was involved in the regulation of abiotic stress tolerance and fruiting body development in F. filiformis.

Insights into regulatory roles of MAPK-cascaded pathways in multiple stress responses and life cycles of insect and nematode mycopathogens

Fungal entomopathogenicity may have evolved at least 200 million years later than carnivorism of nematophagous fungi on Earth. This mini-review focuses on the composition and regulatory roles of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades, which act as stress-responsive signaling pathways. Unveiled by genomic comparison, three MAPK cascades of these mycopathogens consist of singular MAPKs (Fus3/Hog1/Slt2), MAPK kinases (Ste7/Pbs2/Mkk1), and MAPK kinase kinases (Ste11/Ssk2/Bck1). All cascaded components characterized in fungal entomopathogens play conserved and special roles in regulating multiple stress responses and phenotypes associated with biological control potential. Fus3-cascaded components are indispensable for fungal growth on oligotrophic substrata and virulence, and mediate cell tolerance to Na⁺/K⁺ toxicity, which is often misinterpreted as hyperosmotic effect but readily clarified by transcriptional changes of Na⁺/K⁺ ATPase genes and/or cell responses to osmotic polyols. Hog1-cascaded components regulate osmotolerance positively and phenylpyrrole-type fungicide resistance negatively, and also play differential roles in cell growth, conidiation, virulence, and responses to other stress cues. Ste11 has no stress-responsive role in the Beauveria Hog1 cascade despite an essential role in branched yeast Hog1 cascade. Slt2-cascaded components are required for mediation of cell wall integrity and repair of cell wall damage. A crosstalk between Hog1 and Slt2 cascades ensures fungal osmotolerance inside or outside insect. In nematode-trapping fungi, Slt2 is indispensable for cell wall integrity, conidiation, and mycelial trap formation, suggesting that the Slt2 cascade could have evolved along a distinct trajectory required for fungal carnivorism and dispersal/survival in nematode habitats. Altogether, the MAPK cascades are major parts of signaling network that regulate fungal adaptation to insects and nematodes and their habitats.

C-terminal Ser/Thr residues are vital for the regulatory role of Ste7 in the asexual cycle and virulence of Beauveria bassiana

The mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) kinase Ste7 has a conserved Ser/Thr loop (S/T-X₄₍₆₎-S/T) that can activate the MAPK Fus3 or Kss1 for the regulation of pheromone response and filamentous growth in model yeast. Here, we show that not only the loop but also four C-terminal Ser/Thr residues are essential for Ste7 to function in the Fus3 cascade of Beauveria bassiana, a filamentous fungal insect pathogen. Mutagenesis of either looped S216/T220 or C-terminal S362 resulted in the same severe defects in conidial germination, hyphal growth, aerial conidiation, and submerged blastospore production as the ste7 deletion, followed by a complete loss of virulence and similarly increased cell sensitivities to osmotic salts, oxidants, heat shock and UV-B irradiation. Mutagenesis of three other Ser/Thr residues (S391, S440, and T485) also caused severe defects in most of the mentioned phenotypes. These defects correlated well with dramatically reduced transcript levels of some phenotype-related genes. These genes encode a transcription factor (CreA) essential for carbon/nitrogen assimilation, developmental activators (BrlA, AbaA, and WetA) and upstream transcription factor (FluG) required for conidiation, P-type N⁺/K⁺ ATPases (Ena1-5) required for intracellular N⁺/K⁺ homeostasis, and antioxidant enzymes involved in multiple stress responses. Our study unveils that the loop and four C-terminal Ser/Thr residues are all vital for the regulatory role of Ste7 in the growth, conidiation, virulence, and/or stress tolerance of B. bassiana and perhaps other filamentous fungi.

Characterization of the autophagy-related gene BmATG8 in Bipolaris maydis

Autophagy is involved in cellular development and the maintenance of viability under nutrient deprivation in a wide range of eukaryotes. A filamentous ascomycete Bipolaris maydis, responsible for southern corn leaf blight, is also studied as a model fungus for sexual reproduction in filamentous ascomycetes that form filiform ascospores. In order to clarify the roles of autophagy in various stages of the life cycle of B. maydis, we constructed null mutants of BmATG8, an orthologue of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae autophagy gene ATG8 in B. maydis. Deletion of BmATG8 impaired localization of cytosolic components to the vacuole under nitrogen starvation, suggesting that autophagy was deficient in the null mutants. Additionally, fluorescent microscopic observations on a eGFP-fused BmATG8 expressing strain showed that BmATG8 is associated with autophagy-related structures. In vegetative growth, ΔBmATG8 strains showed a reduction in conidiation and aerial mycelial growth. Interestingly, the mutant conidia indicated loss of the germination rate under starvation conditions and affected longevity. However, germinated mutant conidia were still capable of infecting the host plant via appressoria. In sexual reproduction, ascospores with ΔBmATG8 genetic background were aborted. Our results revealed that autophagy plays a crucial role in the function of conidia, not in host infection via appressoria in B. maydis. In addition, conservation of the importance of autophagy in ascospore development is suggested among ascomycetes including species that form bitunicate ascus.

Characterization of the Hog1 MAPK pathway in the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana

High-osmolarity glycerol (HOG) pathway required for yeast osmoregulation relies upon the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) Hog1 cascade that comprise the MAPKKKs Ssk2/Ssk22 and Ste11 converging on the MAPKK Pbs2. Here we show a Hog1 cascade with the unique MAPKKK Ssk2 acting in Beauveria bassiana. Hypersensitivity to high osmolarity and high resistance to fludioxonil fungicide appeared in Δssk2, Δpbs2 and Δhog1 mutants whereas the two hallmark phenotypes were reversed in Δste11. Increased sensitivity to heat shock and decreased sensitivity to cell wall perturbation also occurred in the three mutants but not in Δste11 although antioxidant phenotypes were different in all deletion mutants. Intriguingly, signals of Hog1 phosphorylation induced by osmotic, oxidative and thermal cues were present in Δste11 but absent in Δssk2 and Δpbs2. Moreover, vegetative growth on minimal media with different carbon/nitrogen sources was much more suppressed in Δste11 and Δssk2 than in Δpbs2 and Δhog1 although all mutants suffered similar, but severe, conidiation defects on a standard medium. Normal host infection was abolished in Δste11 while virulence was differentially attenuated in other mutants. Our findings exclude Ste11 from the Hog1 cascade that regulates multiple stress responses and environmental adaptation of B. bassiana and perhaps other filamentous fungi.

ChSte7 Is Required for Vegetative Growth and Various Plant Infection Processes in Colletotrichum higginsianum

Colletotrichum higginsianum is an important hemibiotrophic phytopathogen that causes crucifer anthracnose in various regions of the world. In many plant-pathogenic fungi, the Ste11-Ste7-Fus3/Kss1 kinase pathway is essential to pathogenicity and various plant infection processes. To date, the role of ChSte7 in C. higginsianum encoding a MEK orthologue of Ste7 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae has not been elucidated. In this report, we investigated the function of ChSte7 in the pathogen. The ChSte7 is predicted to encode a 522-amino-acid protein with a S_TKc conserved domain that shares 44% identity with Ste7 in S. cerevisiae. ChSte7 disruption mutants showed white colonies with irregularly shaped edges and extremely decreased growth rates and biomass productions. The ChSte7 disruption mutants did not form appressoria and showed defects in pathogenicity on leaves of Arabidopsis thaliana. When inoculated onto wounded leaf tissues, the ChSte7 disruption mutants grew only on the surface of host tissues but failed to cause lesions beyond the wound site. In contrast, both the wild-type and complementation strains showed normal morphology, produced appressoria, and caused necrosis on leaves of Arabidopsis. Analysis with qRT-PCR suggested that ChSte7 was highly expressed during the late stages of infection. Taken together, our results demonstrate that ChSte7 is involved in regulation of vegetative growth, appressorial formation of C. higginsianum, and postinvasive growth in host tissues.