, a Virulence Factor of , Regulates Pathogenicity by Participating in Trap Formation and Metabolite Synthesis.

The capsule-associated protein 10 gene () is indispensable due to its involvement in pod formation and virulence maintenance in . The function of the gene in nematode-predatory fungi remains unreported. As a typical nematode-trapping fungus, efficiently captures nematodes using adhesive knobs, which has potential applications in the biological control of plant-parasitic nematodes. In this study, we investigated the function of DHXT1 (a CAP10 homologous protein) in -nematode interactions based on the disruption and overexpression of , phenotypic analysis and metabolomic analysis. As a result, it was shown that the disruption of the gene causes a marked decrease in the number of adhesive knobs, and on the contrary, the overexpression of the gene causes a substantial increase in the number of adhesive knobs. Interestingly, the variety of metabolites increased with the disruption of the and decreased with the overexpression of the gene. The results suggest that effects pathogenicity through its involvement in adhesive knobs' formation and metabolite synthesis and serves as a key virulence factor in .