State Key Laboratory for Rice Biology, Institute of Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310029, China.
School of Biosciences, University of Exeter, Geoffrey Pope Building, Exeter, EX4 4QD, United Kingdom.
Sci Rep. 2017 Sep 11;7(1):11062. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-11640-z.
Autophagy is a conserved cellular recycling and trafficking pathway in eukaryotic cells and has been reported to be important in the virulence of a number of microbial pathogens. Here, we report genome-wide identification and characterization of autophagy-related genes (ATGs) in the wheat pathogenic fungus Fusarium graminearum. We identified twenty-eight genes associated with the regulation and operation of autophagy in F. graminearum. Using targeted gene deletion, we generated a set of 28 isogenic mutants. Autophagy mutants were classified into two groups by differences in their growth patterns. Radial growth of 18 Group 1 ATG mutants was significantly reduced compared to the wild-type strain PH-1, while 10 Group 2 mutants grew normally. Loss of any of the ATG genes, except FgATG17, prevented the fungus from causing Fusarium head blight disease. Moreover, subsets of autophagy genes were necessary for asexual/sexual differentiation and deoxynivalenol (DON) production, respectively. FgATG1 and FgATG5 were investigated in detail and showed severe defects in autophagy. Taken together, we conclude that autophagy plays a critical role in growth, asexual/sexual sporulation, deoxynivalenol production and virulence in F. graminearum.
自噬是真核细胞中一种保守的细胞回收和运输途径，已有报道称其在许多微生物病原体的毒力中很重要。在这里，我们报道了在小麦病原真菌禾谷镰刀菌中与自噬相关的基因 (ATG) 的全基因组鉴定和特征。我们鉴定了与禾谷镰刀菌自噬的调节和运作相关的二十八个基因。通过靶向基因缺失，我们生成了一组 28 个同基因突变体。自噬突变体根据其生长模式的差异分为两组。与野生型菌株 PH-1 相比，18 个组 1 ATG 突变体的径向生长显著降低，而 10 个组 2 突变体生长正常。除了 FgATG17 之外，任何 ATG 基因的缺失都阻止了真菌引起赤霉病。此外，自噬基因的亚组分别对无性/有性分化和脱氧雪腐镰刀菌烯醇 (DON) 产生是必要的。详细研究了 FgATG1 和 FgATG5，发现它们在自噬方面存在严重缺陷。总之，我们得出结论，自噬在禾谷镰刀菌的生长、无性/有性孢子形成、脱氧雪腐镰刀菌烯醇产生和毒力中起着关键作用。
