Fungal genomics goes industrial

A critical review on bioaerosols-dispersal of crop pathogenic microorganisms and their impact on crop yield

Bioaerosols are potential sources of pathogenic microorganisms that can cause devastating outbreaks of global crop diseases. Various microorganisms, insects and viroids are known to cause severe crop diseases impeding global agro-economy. Such losses threaten global food security, as it is estimated that almost 821 million people are underfed due to global crisis in food production. It is estimated that global population would reach 10 billion by 2050. Hence, it is imperative to substantially increase global food production to about 60% more than the existing levels. To meet the increasing demand, it is essential to control crop diseases and increase yield. Better understanding of the dispersive nature of bioaerosols, seasonal variations, regional diversity and load would enable in formulating improved strategies to control disease severity, onset and spread. Further, insights on regional and global bioaerosol composition and dissemination would help in predicting and preventing endemic and epidemic outbreaks of crop diseases. Advanced knowledge of the factors influencing disease onset and progress, mechanism of pathogen attachment and penetration, dispersal of pathogens, life cycle and the mode of infection, aid the development and implementation of species-specific and region-specific preventive strategies to control crop diseases. Intriguingly, development of R gene-mediated resistant varieties has shown promising results in controlling crop diseases. Forthcoming studies on the development of an appropriately stacked R gene with a wide range of resistance to crop diseases would enable proper management and yield. The article reviews various aspects of pathogenic bioaerosols, pathogen invasion and infestation, crop diseases and yield.

The MAP Kinase PvMK1 Regulates Hyphal Development, Autophagy, and Pathogenesis in the Bayberry Twig Blight Fungus Pestalotiopsis versicolor

Bayberry twig blight caused by the ascomycete fungus Pestalotiopsis versicolor is a devastating disease threatening worldwide bayberry production. However, the molecular basis underlying the pathogenesis of P. versicolor is largely unknown. Here, we identified and functionally characterized the MAP kinase PvMk1 in P. versicolor through genetic and cellular biochemical approaches. Our analysis reveals a central role of PvMk1 in regulating P. versicolor virulence on bayberry. We demonstrate that PvMk1 is involved in hyphal development, conidiation, melanin biosynthesis, and cell wall stress responses. Notably, PvMk1 regulates P. versicolor autophagy and is essential for hyphal growth under nitrogen-depleting conditions. These findings suggest the multifaceted role of PvMk1 in regulating P. versicolor development and virulence. More remarkably, this evidence of virulence-involved cellular processes regulated by PvMk1 has paved a fundamental way for further understanding the impact of P. versicolor pathogenesis on bayberry.

Histone acetyltransferase GCN5-mediated lysine acetylation modulates salt stress aadaption of Trichoderma

Trichoderma viride has a wide range of applications in plant growth promotion, biological control, cellulase production, and biomass utilization. Salinity is a major limitation to Trichoderma strains in the natural environment and fermentation environment, and to improve the adaptability of Trichoderma to salt stress is of great significance to its applications in industry and agriculture. Histone acetylation plays important roles in the regulation of physiological and biochemical processes including various stress responses. GCN5 is the most representative histone acetylase, which plays vital roles in chromatin remodeling of promoters to facilitate the transcription activation. In this paper, we identified a GCN5-encoding gene TvGCN5 in T. viride Tv-1511, and characterized the function and regulating mechanism of TvGCN5-mediated acetylation of histone H3 in the salt adoption of Tv-1511, by constructions of the deletion mutants (Tv-1511-△GCN5) and overexpression mutants (Tv-1511-GCN5-OE) of TvGCN5. Results showed that compared with wild-type Tv-1511, the over-expression of TvGCN5 resulted in the longer mycelia diameter and more biomass under salt stress. Furthermore, Tv-1511-△GCN5 strains obtained the improved sodium (Na⁺) compartmentation and antioxidant capacity by upregulating the transcriptional levels of genes encoding PM H⁺-ATPase, vacuolar H⁺-ATPase, and antioxidant enzymes. Notably, the changes in the transcriptional expressions of these genes are tightly modulated by the TvGCN5-mediated acetylated level of histone H3 in their promoter regions. In all, these results reveal that TvGCN5 plays an important role in stress tolerance of T. viride Tv-1511, and provides potential insight to facilitate the application of epigenetic modulation in the expanding utilization of Trichoderma. KEY POINTS: • Overexpresison of TvGCN5 improves the adoption of T. viride Tv-1511 to salt stress by increasing acetylation level of histone H3 on the promoter regions of sodium-transport and antioxidant-related genes, at H3K9ac, H3K14ac, H3K23ac, and H3K27ac. • Overexprsison of TvGCN5 enhances the ion transport and compartmentation capacity by upregulating the expressions and activities of PM and vacuolar H⁺-ATPase to tolerate salt stress. • Overexprsison of TvGCN5 promotes the antioxidant capacity by increasing the expressions and activities of antioxidant enzymes in response to salt stress.

Effects of Rice Blast Fungus (<i>Pyricularia grisea</i>) on Phenolics, Flavonoids, Antioxidant Capacity in Rice (<i>Oryza sativa</i> L.)

Rice blast fungus (Pyricularia grisea) is one of the most problematic pathogen to significantly reduce rice production worldwide. In this study, after being inoculated withP. grisea, changes in phenolic components and antioxidant capacity and correlation with the resistant level against rice blast fungus were investigated. Among screened rice cultivars, AV-3 was the strongest resistant, whereas BII-3 was the most susceptible. It was found that although total contents of phenolics and flavonoids, and antioxidant capacities varied among studied varieties, no significant coefficient with the resistance againstP. griseawas observed. After rice was affected by rice blast fungus, total phenolics and flavonoids were markedly reduced, but in contrast, the DPPH scavenging activities of only the susceptible rice cultivars was reduced. Among the 11 phenolic acids detected, catechol was found only in the tolerant cultivar AV-3, whereas the amount of cinnamic acid was increased after infection. Quantity of vanillin was also promoted, except in the susceptible cultivar BII-3 that was significantly reduced. Findings of this study showed that the resistant level againstP. griseawas proportionally correlated to the antioxidant capacity. Catechol, cinnamic acid, and vanillin may play a role but it needs further elaboration. Observations of this study suggested that the infection of blast disease by reducing amount of phenolics and flavonoids that may weaken the resistance of rice against this detrimental fungus.

Application of T-DNA insertional mutagenesis for improving cellulase production in the filamentous fungus Trichoderma reesei

A T-DNA-tagged mutant library created by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation (AMT) was assayed for improvement of cellulase production. After 96-well plate screening for rapid growth on cellulose substrates followed by plate-clearing zone assay, three putative mutants, TA-32, TB-87 and TE-6, with enhanced cellulolytic ability were isolated, exhibiting 38%, 51% and 31% increase in total cellulase activity than the parental strain QM9414, respectively. Endoglucanase, cellobiohydrolase and β-glucosidase activities as well as the hydrolysis efficiencies of the mutants were also improved. Moreover, T-DNA was shown to be integrated at a single site in the genomes of TA-32 and TE-6 while inserted at two copies into the genome of TB-87. Further, the sequences flanking the T-DNA insertion sites were successfully rescued, demonstrating the increased utility of T-DNA insertional mutagenesis for improvement of cellulase production as well as subsequent identification of the tagged genes relevant to cellulolytic ability.

Common processes in pathogenesis by fungal and oomycete plant pathogens, described with Gene Ontology terms

Plant diseases caused by fungi and oomycetes result in significant economic losses every year. Although phylogenetically distant, the infection processes by these organisms share many common features. These include dispersal of an infectious particle, host adhesion, recognition, penetration, invasive growth, and lesion development. Previously, many of these common processes did not have corresponding Gene Ontology (GO) terms. For example, no GO terms existed to describe processes related to the appressorium, an important structure for infection by many fungi and oomycetes. In this mini-review, we identify common features of the pathogenic processes of fungi and oomycetes and create a pathogenesis model using 256 newly developed and 38 extant GO terms, with an emphasis on the appressorium and signal transduction. This set of standardized GO terms provides a solid base to further compare and contrast the molecular underpinnings of fungal and oomycete pathogenesis.

The prediction of protein-protein interaction networks in rice blast fungus

Background

Protein-protein interaction (PPI) maps are useful tools for investigating the cellular functions of genes. Thus far, large-scale PPI mapping projects have not been implemented for the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe grisea, which is responsible for the most severe rice disease. Inspired by recent advances in PPI prediction, we constructed a PPI map of this important fungus.

Results

Using a well-recognized interolog approach, we have predicted 11,674 interactions among 3,017 M. grisea proteins. Although the scale of the constructed map covers approximately only one-fourth of the M. grisea's proteome, it is the first PPI map for this crucial organism and will therefore provide new insights into the functional genomics of the rice blast fungus. Focusing on the network topology of proteins encoded by known pathogenicity genes, we have found that pathogenicity proteins tend to interact with higher numbers of proteins. The pathogenicity proteins and their interacting partners in the entire network were then used to construct a subnet called a pathogenicity network. These data may provide further clues for the study of these pathogenicity proteins. Finally, it has been established that secreted proteins in M. grisea interact with fewer proteins. These secreted proteins and their interacting partners were also compiled into a network of secreted proteins, which may be helpful in constructing an interactome between the rice blast fungus and rice.

Conclusion

We predicted the PPIs of M. grisea and compiled them into a database server called MPID. It is hoped that MPID will provide new hints as to the functional genomics of this fungus. MPID is available at .

Cellular differentiation and host invasion by the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe grisea

This review describes current advances in understanding the biology of plant infection by the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe grisea. Development of the specialized infection structure, the appressorium, in M. grisea has recently been shown to be controlled by cell cycle progression and initiation of autophagic, programmed cell death in the fungal spore. Re-cycling of the contents of the fungal spore and peroxisomal fatty acid beta-oxidation are therefore important processes for appressorium function. Following entry to the host plant, new evidence suggests that M. grisea grows biotrophically within rice cells, bounded by the plant plasmalemma, and the fungus moves from cell-to-cell by means of plasmodesmata. Biotrophic proliferation of the fungus is likely to require secretion of effector proteins and suppression of host defences. Consistent with this, a component of the polarized exocytosis machinery of M. grisea is necessary for pathogenicity and also for induction of host defences in an incompatible interaction. Large-scale insertional mutagenesis is now allowing the rapid analysis of gene function in M. grisea, heralding a new approach to the study of this important fungal pathogen.