Christ Marvin, Rubio Elizalde Itzel, Weiland Paul, Kern Antonia, Iwen Thomas, Mais Christopher-Nils, Pané-Farré Jan, Kiontke Stephan, Altegoer Florian, Freitag Johannes, Bange Gert
Center for Synthetic Microbiology (SYNMIKRO), Departments of Biology and Chemistry, University of Marburg, Karl-von-Frisch Straße 14, 35043 Marburg, Germany.
Institute of Microbiology, Heinrich-Heine University, Universitätsstraße 1, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany.
J Fungi (Basel). 2025 Feb 19;11(2):164. doi: 10.3390/jof11020164.
The biotrophic fungus , which causes smut disease in maize, secretes numerous proteins upon plant colonization. Some of them, termed effectors, help to evade plant defenses and manipulate cellular processes within the host. The function of many proteins specifically secreted during infection remains elusive. In this study, we biochemically characterized one such protein, UMAG_00027, that is highly expressed during plant infection. We show that UMAG_00027 is a secreted protein with a lectin-like fold and therefore term it Llp1 (lectin-like-protein 1). Llp1 decorated the fungal cell wall of cells grown in axenic culture or proliferating in planta, which is in agreement with its potential sugar-binding ability. We were unable to identify the precise sugar moieties that are bound by Llp1. CRISPR/Cas9-mediated deletion of reveals that the gene is not essential for fungal virulence. A structural search shows the presence of several other lectin-like proteins in that might compensate for the function of Llp1 in ∆ mutants. We therefore speculate that Llp1 is part of a family of lectin-like proteins with redundant functions.
这种引起玉米黑粉病的活体营养型真菌在定殖于植物时会分泌大量蛋白质。其中一些被称为效应子的蛋白质有助于规避植物防御并操控宿主细胞内的生理过程。许多在感染期间特异性分泌的蛋白质的功能仍不清楚。在本研究中，我们对一种在植物感染期间高表达的此类蛋白质UMAG_00027进行了生化特性分析。我们发现UMAG_00027是一种具有类似凝集素结构域的分泌蛋白，因此将其命名为Llp1（类凝集素蛋白1）。Llp1修饰了在无菌培养中生长或在植物体内增殖的真菌细胞壁，这与其潜在的糖结合能力相符。我们无法确定Llp1结合的确切糖基部分。CRISPR/Cas9介导的基因缺失表明该基因对真菌致病性并非必需。结构搜索显示该真菌中存在其他几种类似凝集素的蛋白质，它们可能补偿Δ突变体中Llp1的功能。因此，我们推测Llp1是具有冗余功能的类凝集素蛋白家族的一部分。
