Magnaporthe oryzae (M. oryzae) is a devastating pathogenic fungal disease that has a serious threat to the global rice security. Recently, an in‐depth study of the pathogenic mechanism and developmental process of M. oryzae became a primary model in the study of host–fungal pathogen interactions. Here, we have identified a gene MoJMJD3 (MGG_02032, accession XM_003708733) encoding the JumonjiC (JmjC) domain through bioinformatics analysis in M. oryzae. The ΔMojmjd3 deletion mutants showed defects in early appressorium formation and fungal virulence during pathogenesis. At 4 h after inoculation, the early appressorium formation of ΔMojmjd3 was decreased when compared with that of the wild‐type P131. Analysis of intracellular localization of MoJMJD3 with RFP fluorescence observation showed that MoJMJD3 was mainly localized in the cytoplasm of the conidia, appressoria, hyphae, and infective hyphae. Furthermore, by spray inoculation analysis, the ΔMojmjd3deletion mutants reduced virulence on the leaves of rice. These data suggest that MoJMJD3 plays important roles in fungal virulence during pathogenesis in M. oryzae.
In plant-pathogen interactions, <i>Magnaporthe oryzae</i> causes blast disease on more than 50 species of 14 monocot plants, including important crops such as rice, millet, and most 15 recently wheat. <i>M. oryzae</i> is a model fungus for studying plant-microbe interaction, and the main source for fungal pathogenesis in the field. Here we report that <i>MoJMJD6</i> is required for conidium germination and appressorium formation in M. oryzae. We obtained <i>MoJMJD6</i> mutants (Δ<i>Mojmjd6</i>) using a target gene replacement strategy. The <i>MoJMD6</i> deletion mutants were delayed for conidium germination, glycogen, and lipid droplets utilization and consequently had decreased virulence. In the Δ<i>Mojmjd6</i> null mutants, global histone methyltransferase modifications (H3K4me3, H3K9me3, H3K27me3, and H3K36me2/3) of the genome were unaffected. Taken together, our results indicated that <i>MoJMJD6</i> function as a nuclear protein which plays an important role in conidium germination and appressorium formation in the <i>M. oryzae</i>. Our work provides insights into <i>MoJMJD6</i>-mediated regulation in the early stage of pathogenesis in plant fungi.
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