Cytochrome P450 Sterol 14 Alpha-Demethylase Gene Is Required for Mating/Filamentation and Pathogenicity in .

Sugarcane smut is a significant sugarcane disease caused by and is a large threat to the sugar industry in China and the world. Accordingly, it is important to study the pathogenic mechanism by which this disease occurs to identify effective prevention and control strategies. Gene , which encodes cytochrome P450 sterol 14 alpha-demethylase (CYP51), was screened out from the transcriptome of . In this study, the functions of gene were identified the knockout mutants and , which were obtained by polyethylene glycol (PEG)-mediated protoplast transformation technology, as well as the complementary mutants and . The results showed that the CYP51 gene played an important role in sporidial growth, sexual mating/filamentation, hyphae growth, and pathogenicity in . Gene may regulate the biosynthesis process of ergosterol by encoding CYP51 enzymes and then affecting the structure and function of the cell membrane. Gene also played an important role in the response toward different abiotic stresses, including hyperosmotic stress, oxidative stress, and cell wall stress, by regulating the permeability of the cell membrane. In addition, gene is a new type of pathogenic gene from that enhances the pathogenicity of .