Abstract
The p53-like transcription factor (TF) NDT80 plays a vital role in the regulation of pathogenic mechanisms and meiosis in certain fungi. However, the effects of NDT80 on entomopathogenic fungi are still unknown. In this paper, the NDT80 orthologue BbTFO1 was examined in Beauveria bassiana, a filamentous entomopathogenic fungus, to explore the role of an NDT80-like protein for fungal pest control potential. Disruption of BbTFO1 resulted in impaired resistance to oxidative stress (OS) in a growth assay under OS and a 50% minimum inhibitory concentration experiment. Intriguingly, the oxidation resistance changes were accompanied by transcriptional repression of the two key antioxidant enzyme genes cat2 and cat5. ΔBbTFO1 also displayed defective conidial germination, virulence and heat resistance. The specific supplementation of BbTFO1 reversed these phenotypic changes. As revealed by this work, BbTFO1 can affect the transcription of catalase genes and play vital roles in the maintenance of phenotypes associated with the biological control ability of B. bassiana.
Highlights
The p53-like transcription factor (TF) superfamily includes the NDT80/PhoG-like DNA-binding family, which has only been discovered in unikont lineages [1]
Phylogenetic analysis (S1A Fig) showed that the BbTFO1 sequence had the closest relationship with NDT80 from N. crassa (XP 011394327) and T. reesei (XP 006961996) because they were located on the same branch
Successful BbTFO1 deletion and complementation were verified through PCR and Quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) using paired primers to examine correct recombination events (S1B–S1D Fig)
Summary
The p53-like transcription factor (TF) superfamily includes the NDT80/PhoG-like DNA-binding family (http://pfam.xfam.org/family/PF05224), which has only been discovered in unikont lineages [1]. NDT80-like proteins have different functions in different fungi, such as regulation of sexual development, meiosis, filamentation, virulence, drug resistance, programmed cell death and the response to nutrient stress [1, 2]. The NDT80 protein of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is considered to be the founding member of the NDT80 family within the p53-like superfamily [1] and a key regulator of sporulation and meiosis [3]. XprG, known as an NDT80-like protein, positively regulates mycotoxin generation, carbon depletion-induced apoptosis, and extracellular protease expression in Aspergillus nidulans [4].
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