Proteomics Analysis of SsNsd1-Mediated Compound Appressoria Formation in Sclerotinia sclerotiorum.

Jingtao Li,Hongyu Pan,Le Li,Yanhua Zhang,Xianghui Zhang,Jinliang Liu

doi:10.3390/ijms19102946

Jingtao Li, Hongyu Pan + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms19102946

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Abstract

Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Lib.) de Bary is a devastating necrotrophic fungal pathogen attacking a broad range of agricultural crops. In this study, although the transcript accumulation of SsNsd1, a GATA-type IVb transcription factor, was much lower during the vegetative hyphae stage, its mutants completely abolished the development of compound appressoria. To further elucidate how SsNsd1 influenced the appressorium formation, we conducted proteomics-based analysis of the wild-type and ΔSsNsd1 mutant by two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE). A total number of 43 differentially expressed proteins (≥3-fold change) were observed. Of them, 77% were downregulated, whereas 14% were upregulated. Four protein spots fully disappeared in the mutants. Further, we evaluated these protein sequences by mass spectrometry analysis of the peptide mass and obtained functionally annotated 40 proteins, among which only 17 proteins (38%) were identified to have known functions including energy production, metabolism, protein fate, stress response, cellular organization, and cell growth and division. However, the remaining 23 proteins (56%) were characterized as hypothetical proteins among which four proteins (17%) were predicted to contain the signal peptides. In conclusion, the differentially expressed proteins identified in this study shed light on the ΔSsNsd1 mutant-mediated appressorium deficiency and can be used in future investigations to better understand the signaling mechanisms of SsNsd1 in S. sclerotiorum.

Highlights

Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Lib.) de Bary is a destructive and hard-to-control plant necrotrophic fungal pathogen on a broad range of agricultural crops [1,2]
Vegetative hyphae gathered together forming hardened, multicellular sclerotia enclosed by a melanized rind layer, which plays an important role in the development and pathogenesis of S. sclerotiorum [3,4]
Some events are consistent with this development process, such as the production and accumulation of oxalic acid (OA), cell wall-degrading enzymes (CWDE), and effector proteins, which contribute to S. sclerotiorum pathogenesis in myriad ways [9,10,11,12,13,14]

Summary

Introduction

Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Lib.) de Bary is a destructive and hard-to-control plant necrotrophic fungal pathogen on a broad range of agricultural crops [1,2]. Some events are consistent with this development process, such as the production and accumulation of oxalic acid (OA), cell wall-degrading enzymes (CWDE), and effector proteins, which contribute to S. sclerotiorum pathogenesis in myriad ways [9,10,11,12,13,14]. Despite these important findings, the detailed molecular mechanism underpinning the development and formation of compound appressoria in S. sclerotiorum is still largely unclear

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