Chen Yong, Zhang Yichen, Xu Dongying, Zhang Zhanquan, Li Boqiang, Tian Shiping
State Key Laboratory of Plant Diversity and Specialty Crops, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing, China.
China National Botanical Garden , Beijing, China.
Microbiol Spectr. 2023 Sep 21;11(5):e0380822. doi: 10.1128/spectrum.03808-22.
is the causal agent of post-harvest blue mold in various fruits and serves as a model for understanding fungal pathogenicity and mycotoxin production. The relevance of oxidative stress response in the growth and virulence of has been largely unexplored. Here, we identify the transcriptional factor PeAP1 as a regulator of oxidative stress response in . Gene expression and protein abundance of PeAP1, as well as its nuclear localization, are specifically induced by HO. Deletion of results in increased sensitivity to HO, and mutants exhibit a variety of defects in hyphal growth and virulence. PeAP1 prevents the accumulation of both intracellular HO during vegetative growth and host-derived HO during biotrophic growth. Application of an antioxidant glutathione and a NADPH oxidase inhibitor, diphenylene iodonium, to the mutant partially restored fungal growth and virulence. RNA sequencing analysis revealed 144 HO-induced PeAP1 target genes, including four antioxidant-related genes, , , , and , that were also demonstrated to be involved in oxidative stress response and/or virulence. Collectively, our results demonstrate the global regulatory role of PeAP1 in response to oxidative stress and provide insights into the critical role of the PeAP1-mediated oxidative stress response to regulate growth and virulence of . IMPORTANCE Reactive oxygen species are the core of host plant defense and also play a vital role in the successful invasion of host plants by pathogenic fungi. Despite its importance, the relevance of oxidative stress response in fungal growth and virulence is poorly understood in . In this study, we reveal that the transcription factor PeAP1 acts as a central regulator of oxidative stress response in and that there is a major link between PeAP1-mediated oxidative stress response and fungal growth and virulence. To explore the underlying mechanisms, we performed comparative transcriptomic studies and identified a number of HO-induced PeAP1 target genes, including four novel ones, , , , and , whose functions were linked to PeAP1 and pathogenicity. These findings provide novel insights into the regulation mechanism of PeAP1 on growth and virulence, which might offer promising targets for control of blue mold and patulin contamination.
是多种水果采后青霉病的病原体，也是理解真菌致病性和霉菌毒素产生的模型。氧化应激反应在其生长和毒力中的相关性在很大程度上尚未得到探索。在这里，我们鉴定转录因子PeAP1是其氧化应激反应的调节因子。PeAP1的基因表达、蛋白质丰度及其核定位由H₂O₂特异性诱导。缺失该基因导致对H₂O₂的敏感性增加，该基因突变体在菌丝生长和毒力方面表现出多种缺陷。PeAP1可防止营养生长期间细胞内H₂O₂的积累以及活体营养生长期间宿主来源的H₂O₂的积累。向该基因突变体施用抗氧化剂谷胱甘肽和NADPH氧化酶抑制剂二苯基碘鎓可部分恢复真菌生长和毒力。RNA测序分析揭示了144个H₂O₂诱导的PeAP1靶基因，包括四个与抗氧化相关的基因，它们也被证明参与氧化应激反应和/或毒力。总体而言，我们的结果证明了PeAP1在应对氧化应激中的全局调节作用，并深入了解了PeAP1介导的氧化应激反应对调节其生长和毒力的关键作用。重要性 活性氧是宿主植物防御的核心，在致病真菌成功侵染宿主植物中也起着至关重要的作用。尽管其很重要，但氧化应激反应在其生长和毒力中的相关性在很大程度上仍未得到充分了解。在本研究中，我们揭示转录因子PeAP1是其氧化应激反应的核心调节因子，并且PeAP1介导的氧化应激反应与真菌生长和毒力之间存在主要联系。为了探索潜在机制，我们进行了比较转录组学研究，并鉴定了许多H₂O₂诱导的PeAP1靶基因，包括四个新基因，它们的功能与PeAP1和致病性相关。这些发现为PeAP1对生长和毒力的调控机制提供了新的见解，这可能为控制青霉病和棒曲霉素污染提供有希望的靶点。
