BcDR1, a putative gene, regulates the development and pathogenicity of Botrytis cinerea

Abstract

Botrytis cinerea is one of the important phytopathogenic fungi. Cloning of the genes related to their development and pathogenicity is fundamental to the pathogen control. A mutant (BCt160), which produces abnormal conidia and no sclerotia, was identified from Botrytis cinerea mutant library generated by Agrobacterium tumefaciens mediated transformation (ATMT). Southern blotting analysis showed that one T-DNA insertion occurred in the genome of the mutant. TAIL-PCR (thermal asymmetric interlaced PCR) and bioinformatic analysis indicated that the exogenous T-DNA insertion occurred in the second exon of a putative gene BC1G_12388.1, named as BcDR1 (B. cinerea development-related gene 1). The function analysis of BcDR1 gene showed that the BcDR1 was related to development, morphological differentiation, and pathogenicity of B. cinerea, suggesting that BcDR1 gene was required for the development and pathogenicity of B. cinerea.