UvVelC is important for conidiation and pathogenicity in the rice false smut pathogen .

Rice false smut disease is one of the most significant rice diseases worldwide. is the causative agent of this disease. Although several developmental and pathogenic genes have been identified and functionally analyzed, the pathogenic molecular mechanisms of remain elusive. The velvet family regulatory proteins are involved in fungal development, conidiation, and pathogenicity. In this study, we demonstrated the function of the VelC homolog UvVELC in . We identified the velvet family protein UvVELC and characterized its functions using a target gene deletion-strategy. Deletion of resulted in conidiation failure and pathogenicity. The expression levels during infection suggested that this gene might be involved in the early infection process. is also important in resistance to abiotic stresses, the utilization efficiency of glucose, stachyose, raffinose, and other sugars, and the expression of transport-related genes. Moreover, UvVELC could physically interact with UvVEA in yeast, and / double-knockout mutants also failed in conidiation and pathogenicity. These results indicate that play a critical role in the conidiation and pathogenicity in . Functional analysis indicated that UvVELC-mediated conidiation and nutrient acquisition from rice regulates the pathogenicity of . Understanding the function of the UvVELC homolog could provide a potential molecular target for controlling rice false smut disease.