Abstract
The conserved fungal velvet family regulatory proteins link development and secondary metabolite production. The velvet domain for DNA binding and dimerization is similar to the structure of the Rel homology domain of the mammalian NF-κB transcription factor. A comprehensive study addressed the functions of all four homologs of velvet domain encoding genes in the fungal life cycle of the soil-borne plant pathogenic fungus Verticillium dahliae. Genetic, cell biological, proteomic and metabolomic analyses of Vel1, Vel2, Vel3 and Vos1 were combined with plant pathogenicity experiments. Different phases of fungal growth, development and pathogenicity require V. dahliae velvet proteins, including Vel1-Vel2, Vel2-Vos1 and Vel3-Vos1 heterodimers, which are already present during vegetative hyphal growth. The major novel finding of this study is that Vel1 is necessary for initial plant root colonization and together with Vel3 for propagation in planta by conidiation. Vel1 is needed for disease symptom induction in tomato. Vel1, Vel2, and Vel3 control the formation of microsclerotia in senescent plants. Vel1 is the most important among all four V. dahliae velvet proteins with a wide variety of functions during all phases of the fungal life cycle in as well as ex planta.
Highlights
Many plants are destroyed by wilt causing plant pathogenic fungi such as the ascomycete Verticillium dahliae, which infects over 200 hosts in temperate and subtropical regions and becomes a world-wide threat [1,2,3]
V. dahliae carries a similar set of four velvet domain protein encoding genes as A. nidulans
The architecture of the velvet proteins is largely conserved between V. dahliae and A. nidulans
Summary
Many plants are destroyed by wilt causing plant pathogenic fungi such as the ascomycete Verticillium dahliae, which infects over 200 hosts in temperate and subtropical regions and becomes a world-wide threat [1,2,3]. V. dahliae remains in the soil for years without a suitable host as melanized resting structures, called microsclerotia [4]. V. dahliae uses regions where the endodermis has not been fully developed, for instance the tip or sites of lateral root formation, for penetration when reaching the root [1,2]. V. dahliae forms microsclerotia in senescent plants, that reach the soil with the fading plant and remain there until a new host is present [4,7,9]
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