Cheng An-Po, Huang Lihong, Oberkofler Lorenz, Johnson Nathan R, Glodeanu Adrian-Stefan, Stillman Kyra, Weiberg Arne
Faculty of Biology, Chair of Genetics, Faculty of Biology, Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich, Martinsried 82152, Germany.
Centro de Genómica y Bioinformática, Facultad de Ciencias, Ingeniería y Tecnología, Universidad Mayor, Santiago 5750, Chile.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2025 Apr 29;122(17):e2422756122. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2422756122. Epub 2025 Apr 23.
Argonaute (AGO) proteins bind to small RNAs to induce RNA interference (RNAi), a conserved gene regulatory mechanism in animal, plant, and fungal kingdoms. Small RNAs of the fungal plant pathogen were previously shown to translocate into plant cells and to bind to the host AGO, which induced cross-kingdom RNAi to promote infection. However, the role of pathogen AGOs during host infection stayed elusive. In this study, we revealed that members of fungal plant pathogen BcAGO family contribute to plant infection. BcAGO1 binds to both fungal and plant small RNAs during infection and acts in bidirectional cross-kingdom RNAi, from fungus to plant and vice versa. BcAGO2 also binds fungal and plant small RNAs but acts independent from BcAGO1 by regulating distinct genes. Nevertheless, BcAGO2 is important for infection, as it is required for effective pathogen small RNA delivery into host cells and fungal induced cross-kingdom RNAi. Providing these mechanistic insights of pathogen AGOs promises to improve RNAi-based crop protection strategies.
Argonaute（AGO）蛋白与小RNA结合以诱导RNA干扰（RNAi），这是动物、植物和真菌界中一种保守的基因调控机制。此前研究表明，真菌植物病原体的小RNA可转移至植物细胞并与宿主AGO结合，从而诱导跨物种RNAi以促进感染。然而，病原体AGO在宿主感染过程中的作用仍不明确。在本研究中，我们发现真菌植物病原体BcAGO家族成员有助于植物感染。在感染过程中，BcAGO1可与真菌和植物的小RNA结合，并在双向跨物种RNAi中发挥作用，即从真菌到植物以及从植物到真菌。BcAGO2也能结合真菌和植物的小RNA，但通过调控不同基因独立于BcAGO1发挥作用。尽管如此，BcAGO2对感染很重要，因为它是病原体小RNA有效递送至宿主细胞以及真菌诱导的跨物种RNAi所必需的。对病原体AGO的这些机制性见解有望改进基于RNAi的作物保护策略。
