Abstract
To successfully infect plants and trigger disease, fungal plant pathogens use various strategies that are dependent on characteristics of their biology and genomes. Although pathogenic fungi are different from animals and plants in the genomic heritability, sequence feature, and epigenetic modification, an increasing number of phytopathogenic fungi have been demonstrated to share DNA methyltransferases (MTases) responsible for DNA methylation with animals and plants. Fungal plant pathogens predominantly possess four types of DNA MTase homologs, including DIM-2, DNMT1, DNMT5, and RID. Numerous studies have indicated that DNA methylation in phytopathogenic fungi mainly distributes in transposable elements (TEs), gene promoter regions, and the repetitive DNA sequences. As an important and heritable epigenetic modification, DNA methylation is associated with silencing of gene expression and transposon, and it is responsible for a wide range of biological phenomena in fungi. This review highlights the relevant reports and insights into the important roles of DNA methylation in the modulation of development, pathogenicity, and secondary metabolism of fungal plant pathogens. Recent evidences prove that there are massive links between DNA and histone methylation in fungi, and they commonly regulate fungal development and mycotoxin biosynthesis.
Highlights
Fungal plant pathogens are among the predominant causal agents of plant diseases, and they are responsible for extensive losses in the yield and quality of many economically important agronomical, horticultural, ornamental, and forest plants worldwide [1,2,3]
Treatment with the methylation inhibitor leads to morphological changes [86], and virulence in ∆AfdmtA is altered [87]. ∆AfdmtA strains can infect peanut seeds and maize kernel and develop more rapidly on crop seeds than wild type (WT), proving that the DNA methyltransferase maybe has an important role in pathogenicity [66]
DNA methylation is proven to be engaged in the persistence of fungal plant pathogens in plant hosts and is at the forefront of deciphering the interaction between fungal plant pathogens and hosts
Summary
Fungal plant pathogens are among the predominant causal agents of plant diseases, and they are responsible for extensive losses in the yield and quality of many economically important agronomical, horticultural, ornamental, and forest plants worldwide [1,2,3]. DNA methylation inhibits transcription elongation in Magnaporthe oryzae [44] and the filamentous fungi Neurospore crassa [49] In the latter, approximately 2% of cytosines in the genome are methylated [50]. DNA MTases and genome-wide DNA methylation patterns have been identified in many fungal plant pathogens, their functions and mechanisms of action are still poorly understood. DNA MTase homologs have been identified in many fungal pathogens, including Arthrinium arundinis, A. fumigatus, B. cinerea, Caliciopsis orientalis, Fusarium graminearum, and M. oryzae [58]. AnDmtA and AlDmtA are identified as DNA MTase homologs and are essential for sexual development in A. nidulans and activation of the aflatoxin (AF) biosynthesis gene cluster in A. flavus, respectively [63,66]. All members of the DNMT1 family have been found in fungi, no homologs of DNMT3 have been identified in any fungal species to date (Figure 1) [44,58]
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