Involvement of the cell wall integrity pathway in signal recognition, cell wall biosynthesis, and virulence in Magnaporthe oryzae.

Abstract

The fungal cell wall is the first layer exposed to the external environment. The cell wall has key roles in regulating cell functions, such as cellular stability, permeability, and protection against stress. Understanding the structure of the cell wall and the mechanism of its biogenesis is important for the study of fungi. Highly conserved in fungi including M. oryzae, the cell wall integrated (CWI) pathway is the primary signaling cascade regulating cell wall structure and function. The CWI pathway has been demonstrated to correlate with the pathogenicity in many phytopathogenic fungi. In the synthesis of cell wall, the CWI pathway cooperates with multiple signaling pathways to regulate cell morphogenesis and secondary metabolism. Many questions have arisen regarding the cooperation of different signaling pathways with the CWI pathway in regulating cell wall synthesis and pathogenicity. In this review, we summarized the latest advances in the M. oryzae CWI pathway and cell wall structure. We discussed the CWI pathway components and their involvement in different aspects, such as virulence factors, the possibility of the pathway as a target for antifungal therapies, and cross-talk with other signaling pathways. This information will aid in better understanding the universal functions of the CWI pathway in regulating cell wall synthesis and pathogenicity in M. oryzae.