The bZIP transcription factor FpAda1 is essential for fungal growth and conidiation in Fusarium pseudograminearum

Linlin Chen,Xuejing Geng,Jingya Zhao,Wenbo Chen,Haiyang Li,Honglian Li,Shengli Ding,Yuming Ma

doi:10.1007/s00294-019-01042-1

Linlin Chen, Xuejing Geng + Show 6 more

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https://doi.org/10.1007/s00294-019-01042-1

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Journal: Current genetics	Publication Date: Nov 6, 2019
Citations: 13	License type: open-access

Affiliation: Henan Agricultural University

Abstract

Fusarium pseudograminearum is an important pathogen of Fusarium crown rot and Fusarium head blight, which is able to infect wheat and barley worldwide, causing great economic losses. Transcription factors (TFs) of the basic leucine zipper (bZIP) protein family control important processes in all eukaryotes. In this study, we identified a gene, designated FpAda1, encoding a bZIP TF in F. pseudograminearum. The homolog of FpAda1 is also known to affect hyphal growth in Neurospora crassa. Deletion of FpAda1 in F. pseudograminearum resulted in defects in hyphal growth, mycelial branching and conidia formation. Pathogenicity assays showed that virulence of the Δfpada1 mutant was dramatically decreased on wheat coleoptiles and barley leaves. However, wheat coleoptile inoculation assay showed that Δfpada1 could penetrate and proliferate in wheat cells. Moreover, the FpAda1 was required for abnormal nuclear morphology in conidia and transcription of FpCdc2 and FpCdc42. Taken together, these results indicate that FpAda1 is an important transcription factor involved in growth and development in F. pseudograminearum.

Highlights

The plant pathogen Fusarium pseudograminearum is the causative agent of Fusarium crown rot (FCR) in wheat and barley, resulting in substantial yield losses worldwide (Kazan and Gardiner 2018)
We identified FpAda1 as a homolog of the basic leucine zipper domain (bZIP) transcription factor Ada-1 in F. pseudograminearum, which was found to be involved in hyphal growth, conidiation and pathogenicity
By quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) we observed that FpAda1 expression was induced during conidiation and early infection stages (IF18 h and IF30 h), and a high transcriptional level of FpAda1 was detected at IF5 days (Fig. 1b)

Summary

Introduction

The plant pathogen Fusarium pseudograminearum is the causative agent of Fusarium crown rot (FCR) in wheat and barley, resulting in substantial yield losses worldwide (Kazan and Gardiner 2018). In the Huanghuai wheat-growing region of China, it has been reported that F. pseudograminearum was the dominant pathogen of FCR (Li et al 2012; Zhou et al 2019). Transcription factors (TFs) are DNA-binding proteins that interact with other components of the transcriptional machinery to regulate the expression of multiple genes. TFs can be classified into several categories based on primary and/or three-dimensional structure similarities in the DNAbinding and multimerization domains (Riechmann et al 2000; Warren 2002). The family of transcription factors containing a basic leucine zipper domain (bZIP) is widely distributed across eukaryotes (Hurst 1995; Kong et al 2015)

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