LaeA Controls Virulence and Secondary Metabolism in Apple Canker Pathogen

Overview

Journal Front Microbiol

Specialty Microbiology

Date 2020 Nov 30

PMID 33250871

Citations 17

Authors

Yaqiong Feng

Zhiyuan Yin

Yuxing Wu

Liangsheng Xu

Hongxia Du

Nana Wang

Lili Huang

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Apple Valsa canker is a destructive disease caused by the ascomycete and poses a serious threat to apple production. Toxins synthesized by secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters (SMBGCs) have been proven to be crucial for pathogen virulence. A previous study showed that genome contains remarkably expanded SMBGCs and some of their genes were significantly upregulated during infection. In this study, we focus on LaeA, a known regulator of secondary metabolism, for its role in SMBGC regulation, toxin production, and virulence of . Deletion of led to greatly reduced virulence with lesion length reduced by 48% on apple twigs. Toxicity tests proved that toxicity of secondary metabolites (SMs) produced by deletion mutant (Δ) was markedly decreased in comparison with wild-type (WT). Transcriptomic and proteomic analyses of WT and Δ indicated that a portion of transporters and about half (31/60) SMBGCs are regulated by Function analysis of eight gene clusters including , , , , , , , and that were differentially expressed at both transcriptional and translational levels showed that four of them (i.e., , , , and ) were involved in pigment production and contributed to virulence. Our findings will provide new insights and gene resources for understanding the role of pathogenicity-related toxins in .

Citing Articles

Beyond morphogenesis and secondary metabolism: function of Velvet proteins and LaeA in fungal pathogenesis.

Calvo A, Dabholkar A, Wyman E, Lohmar J, Cary J Appl Environ Microbiol. 2024; 90(10):e0081924.

PMID: 39230285 PMC: 11497805. DOI: 10.1128/aem.00819-24.

Involvement of LaeA and Velvet Proteins in Regulating the Production of Mycotoxins and Other Fungal Secondary Metabolites.

Hou X, Liu L, Xu D, Lai D, Zhou L J Fungi (Basel). 2024; 10(8).

PMID: 39194887 PMC: 11355368. DOI: 10.3390/jof10080561.

AfLaeA, a Global Regulator of Mycelial Growth, Chlamydospore Production, Pathogenicity, Secondary Metabolism, and Energy Metabolism in the Nematode-Trapping Fungus .

Zhang Y, Wang X, Ran Y, Zhang K, Li G Microbiol Spectr. 2023; 11(4):e0018623.

PMID: 37358432 PMC: 10434191. DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.00186-23.

The global regulator FpLaeB is required for the regulation of growth, development, and virulence in .

Wu Y, Wang Y, Han S, Li Q, Kong L Front Plant Sci. 2023; 14:1132507.

PMID: 36909432 PMC: 9994621. DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1132507.

A putative terpene cyclase gene () is required for fungal development and virulence in .

Yang Y, Yu L, Qiu X, Xiong D, Tian C Front Microbiol. 2023; 14:1084828.

PMID: 36891381 PMC: 9986285. DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1084828.

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