Abstract
Velvet genes play critical roles in the regulation of diverse cellular processes. In current study, we identified the gene FocVel1, a homolog of Fusarium graminearum VelA, in the plant pathogenic fungus F. oxysporum f. sp. cucumerinum. This pathogen causes the destructive disease called cucumber Fusarium wilt (CFW), which severely affects the production and marketing of this vegetable worldwide. Transcript analyses revealed high expression of FocVel1 during conidiophore development. Disruption of the FocVel1 gene led to several phenotypic defects, including reduction in aerial hyphal formation and conidial production. The deletion mutant ΔFocVel1 showed increased resistance to both osmotic stress and cell wall-damaging agents, but increased sensitivity to iprodione and prochloraz fungicides, which may be related to changes in cell wall components. In the process of biofilm formation in vitro, the mutant strain ΔFocVel1 displayed not only a reduction in spore aggregation but also a delay in conidial germination on the polystyrene surface, which may result in defects in biofilm formation. Moreover, pathogenicity assays showed that the mutant ΔFocVel1 exhibited impaired virulence in cucumber seedlings. And the genetic complementation of the mutant with the wild-type FocVel1 gene restored all the defects of the ΔFocVel1. Taken together, the results of this study indicated that FocVel1 played a critical role in the regulation of various cellular processes and pathogenicity in F. oxysporum f. sp. cucumerinum.
Highlights
The cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) is one of the most common vegetables worldwide
Targeted Deletion of FocVel1 Gene and Complementation To investigate the functions of FocVel1 gene in F. oxysporum f. sp. cucumerinum, we generated gene deletion mutants using a homology recombination strategy in the parental F. oxysporum f. sp. cucumerinum Foc-GD strain (Figure 1A)
We examined the roles of the FocVel1 gene in the plant pathogenic fungus F. oxysporum f. sp. cucumerinum, which causes destructive cucumber Fusarium wilt (CFW)
Summary
The cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) is one of the most common vegetables worldwide. the quality and productivity of this plant is often threatened by cucumber Fusarium wilt (CFW), a devastating soil-borne vascular fungal disease caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cucumerinum (Zhao et al, 2012). The quality and productivity of this plant is often threatened by cucumber Fusarium wilt (CFW), a devastating soil-borne vascular fungal disease caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. Biofilm formation is one of the most common mechanisms of growth in microorganisms, and it often displays altered phenotypes with respect to growth rate, gene transcription, and resistance to various stresses (Wosten et al, 1999; Harding et al, 2009; Mowat et al, 2009). Biofilm formation is a well-organized process, which depends on surface properties, conditioning films on the surface, characteristics of the medium, and microbial cell properties (Donlan, 2002). The formation, maturation, and dispersal of biofilms are key processes in the life cycle of many animal and plant bacterial pathogens (Costerton et al, 1995; O’Toole et al, 2000)
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