Functional analysis of the Fusarium graminearum phosphatome

Abstract

Summary Phosphatases are known to play important roles in the regulation of various cellular processes in eukaryotes. However, systematic characterization of the phosphatome has not been reported in phytopathogenic fungi. The wheat scab fungus Fusarium graminearum contains 82 putative phosphatases. The biological functions of each phosphatase were investigated in this study. Although 11 phosphatase genes appeared to be essential, deletion mutants of the other 71 phosphatase genes were obtained and characterized for changes in 15 phenotypes, including vegetative growth, nutrient response and virulence. Overall, the deletion of 63 phosphatase genes resulted in changes in at least one of the phenotypes assayed. Interestingly, the deletion of four genes (Fg06297, Fg03333, Fg03826 and Fg07932) did not dramatically affect hyphal growth, but led to strongly reduced virulence. Western blot analyses showed that three phosphatases (Fg10516, Fg03333 and Fg12867) functioned as negative regulators of the mitogen‐activated protein kinase signaling pathways. In addition, we found, for the first time, that FgCdc14 is dispensable for growth, but plays an important role in ribosome biogenesis. Overall, in this first functional characterization of the fungal phosphatome, phosphatases important for various aspects of hyphal growth, development, plant infection and secondary metabolism were identified in the phytopathogenic fungus F. graminearum.

Systematic analysis of the lysine acetylome in Fusarium graminearum

“…Consistent with this hypothesis, ten proteins involved in the virulence or DON biosynthesis of F. graminearum were found to be acetylated, including 4 transcription factors, 4 protein kinases and 2 phosphatases (Table 1) [41–43]. The MS/MS spectra and peak assignments for the acetylated peptides of these proteins were presented in Additional file 1: Figure S3.…”

“…The results of inoculation with the gene deletion mutant Δ Fg5894 and Δ Fg9532 , respectively showed that the virulence of the two mutants on wheat was significantly reduced. And further, DON biosynthesis defect was detected in the two mutants, in particular, there was no DON was detected in Δ Fg9532 [43]. It was found that most of the acetylation sites are located in the conserved/important domains of these ten proteins.…”

Candidate gene based association mapping in Fusarium culmorum for field quantitative pathogenicity and mycotoxin production in wheat

“…As a result, genes related to pathogenesis and other responses have been identified. Special attention has been given to genes encoding proteins of the secretome [58–61], kinome [62] and phosphatome [63]. However, little is known about which of those identified genes play an active role in explaining quantitative differences in aggressiveness among isolates occurring in natural populations, as the vast majority of studies have used only one Fusarium isolate.…”

Whole genome sequencing and comparative genomics of closely related Fusarium Head Blight fungi: Fusarium graminearum, F. meridionale and F. asiaticum

“…A separate study that focused on kinases determined that the accessory genes FGSG_07812 , FGSG_11614 , and FGSG_02153 all contributed to toxin production while FGSG_03146 contributed to spore production and disease [50]. Disruption of a possible phosphatase regulatory subunit FGSG_11641 has also been shown to reduce disease accumulation [56]. Together, the accessory genome appears to contain genes that contribute to metabolic processes, as well as other processes potentially involved in development or disease.…”