The Fungal Protein Mes1 Is Required for Morphogenesis and Virulence in the Dimorphic Phytopathogen

Overview

Journal J Fungi (Basel)

Date 2022 Jul 27

PMID 35893127

Authors

David Canovas

Affiliations

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Abstract

Polarized growth is a defining property of filamentous fungi, which plays an important role in different aspects of their biology, including virulence. However, little information is available about the determinants of cell surface organization and their role in polarized growth. The fungal protein MesA was identified in a genetic screen in and is involved in the stabilization of the polarity axes, but it has no evident role in budding yeast. In this work, I present evidence that in the dimorphic fungal phytopathogen MesA/Mes1 is involved in cell wall stability and polarized growth. mutants were more sensitive to drugs provoking cell wall stress, and they displayed a temperature-sensitive phenotype. Actin cytoskeleton was disorganized in a mutant, suggesting that there is a connection between Mes1, the actin cytoskeleton and polarized morphogenesis. The septin ring was also absent from the bud tip, but not the bud neck. Deletion of provoked defects in endocytosis and vacuolar organization in the cells. Mes1 was essential for strong polarized growth in the hyphal form, but it was dispensable during low or moderate polarized growth in the yeast form in at a permissive temperature. Consistently, mutants showed delayed mating and they were avirulent.

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PMID: 37265147 PMC: 10952683. DOI: 10.1002/cm.21765.

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