AoSsk1, a Response Regulator Required for Mycelial Growth and Development, Stress Responses, Trap Formation, and the Secondary Metabolism in .

Ssk1, a response regulator of the two-component signaling system, plays an important role in the cellular response to hyperosmotic stress in fungi. Herein, an ortholog of () was characterized in the nematode-trapping fungus using gene disruption and multi-phenotypic comparison. The deletion of resulted in defective growth, deformed and swollen hyphal cells, an increased hyphal septum, and a shrunken nucleus. Compared to the wild-type (WT) strain, the number of autophagosomes and lipid droplets in the hyphal cells of the Δ mutant decreased, whereas their volumes considerably increased. disruption caused a 95% reduction in conidial yield and remarkable defects in tolerance to osmotic and oxidative stress. Meanwhile, the transcript levels of several sporulation-related genes were significantly decreased in the Δ mutant compared to the WT strain, including , , , , and . Moreover, the loss of resulted in a remarkable increase in trap formation and predation efficiency. In addition, many metabolites were markedly downregulated in the Δ mutant compared to the WT strain. Our results highlight that AoSsk1 is a crucial regulator of asexual development, stress responses, the secondary metabolism, and pathogenicity, and can be useful in probing the regulatory mechanism underlying the trap formation and lifestyle switching of nematode-trapping fungi.