Meng Shuai, Shi Huanbin, Lin Chuyu, Wu Zhongling, Lin Fucheng, Tao Zeng, Kou Yanjun
State Key Lab of Rice Biology, China National Rice Research Institute, Hangzhou 311400, China.
State Key Lab of Rice Biology, Ministry of Agriculture Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Crop Pathogens and Insects, Institute of Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
J Fungi (Basel). 2022 May 24;8(6):553. doi: 10.3390/jof8060553.
Epigenetic modification is important for cellular functions. Trimethylation of histone H3 lysine 4 (H3K4me3), which associates with transcriptional activation, is one of the important epigenetic modifications. In this study, the biological functions of UvKmt2-mediated H3K4me3 modification were characterized in , which is the causal agent of the false smut disease, one of the most destructive diseases in rice. Phenotypic analyses of the Δ mutant revealed that is necessary for growth, conidiation, secondary spore formation, and virulence in . Immunoblotting and chromatin immunoprecipitation assay followed by sequencing (ChIP-seq) showed that is required for the establishment of H3K4me3, which covers 1729 genes of the genome in . Further RNA-seq analysis demonstrated that UvKmt2-mediated H3K4me3 acts as an important role in transcriptional activation. In particular, H3K4me3 modification involves in the transcriptional regulation of conidiation-related and pathogenic genes, including two important mitogen-activated protein kinases and . The down-regulation of and genes may be one of the main reasons for the reduced pathogenicity and stresses adaptability of the ∆ mutant. Overall, H3K4me3, established by histone methyltransferase , contributes to fungal development, secondary spore formation, virulence, and various stress responses through transcriptional regulation in .
表观遗传修饰对细胞功能很重要。组蛋白H3赖氨酸4（H3K4me3）的三甲基化与转录激活相关，是重要的表观遗传修饰之一。在本研究中，在稻曲病菌（一种水稻最具破坏性的病害之一的病原菌）中对UvKmt2介导的H3K4me3修饰的生物学功能进行了表征。对Δ突变体的表型分析表明，UvKmt2对稻曲病菌的生长、产孢、次生孢子形成和毒力是必需的。免疫印迹和染色质免疫沉淀测序分析（ChIP-seq）表明，UvKmt2是建立H3K4me3所必需的，H3K4me3覆盖了稻曲病菌基因组中的1729个基因。进一步的RNA测序分析表明，UvKmt2介导的H3K4me3在转录激活中起重要作用。特别是，H3K4me3修饰参与了与产孢相关和致病基因的转录调控，包括两个重要的丝裂原活化蛋白激酶UvPMK1和UvMST12。UvPMK1和UvMST12基因的下调可能是Δ突变体致病性和胁迫适应性降低的主要原因之一。总体而言，由组蛋白甲基转移酶UvKmt2建立的H3K4me3通过转录调控促进了稻曲病菌的发育、次生孢子形成、毒力和各种胁迫反应。
