Microarray analysis of transcript accumulation during perithecium development in the filamentous fungus Gibberella zeae (anamorph Fusarium graminearum)

Qi, Weihong; Kwon, C. Y.; Trail, Frances

doi:10.1007/s00438-006-0125-9

Cited by 39 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…Spore dispersal gradients are consistent with the disease foci of G. zeae originating from airborne ascospores (14). Thus, sexual and asexual forms of reproduction of G. zeae are important developmental processes for disease outbreak and are regulated by specific pathways (16,17,36,44,52).…”

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confidence: 54%

GzSNF1Is Required for Normal Sexual and Asexual Development in the AscomyceteGibberella zeae

Lee

et al. 2009

Eukaryot Cell

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The sucrose nonfermenting 1 (SNF1) protein kinase of yeast plays a central role in the transcription of glucose-repressible genes in response to glucose starvation. In this study, we deleted an ortholog of SNF1 from Gibberella zeae to characterize its functions by using a gene replacement strategy. The mycelial growth of deletion mutants (⌬GzSNF1) was reduced by 21 to 74% on diverse carbon sources. The virulence of ⌬GzSNF1 mutants on barley decreased, and the expression of genes encoding cell-wall-degrading enzymes was reduced. The most distinct phenotypic changes were in sexual and asexual development. ⌬GzSNF1 mutants produced 30% fewer perithecia, which matured more slowly, and asci that contained one to eight abnormally shaped ascospores. Mutants in which only the GzSNF1 catalytic domain was deleted had the same phenotype changes as the ⌬GzSNF1 strains, but the phenotype was less extreme in the mutants with the regulatory domain deleted. In outcrosses between the ⌬GzSNF1 mutants, each perithecium contained ϳ70% of the abnormal ascospores, and ϳ50% of the asci showed unexpected segregation patterns in a single locus tested. The asexual spores of the ⌬GzSNF1 mutants were shorter and had fewer septa than those of the wild-type strain. The germination and nucleation of both ascospores and conidia were delayed in ⌬GzSNF1 mutants in comparison with those of the wild-type strain. GzSNF1 expression and localization depended on the developmental stage of the fungus. These results suggest that GzSNF1 is critical for normal sexual and asexual development in addition to virulence and the utilization of alternative carbon sources.

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confidence: 54%

GzSNF1Is Required for Normal Sexual and Asexual Development in the AscomyceteGibberella zeae

Lee

et al. 2009

Eukaryot Cell

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“…However, the sexual growth of N. crassa arises as a consequence of a communion of cells of different nuclear types; the heterokaryotic reproductive cells develop into sterile paraphyses within the perithecium or undergo karyogamy and a short diploid phase prior to the production of haploid ascospores. This heterokaryosis has made it challenging to study sexual differentiation using traditional methods based on genetic screens for mutants (13,14), and genome-wide assays so far have yielded only limited information about the genetics underlying the production of multicellular sexual reproduction structures such as perithecia (13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23).…”

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confidence: 99%

Global Gene Expression and Focused Knockout Analysis Reveals Genes Associated with Fungal Fruiting Body Development in Neurospora crassa

et al. 2014

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Fungi can serve as highly tractable models for understanding genetic basis of sexual development in multicellular organisms. Applying a reverse-genetic approach to advance such a model, we used random and multitargeted primers to assay gene expression across perithecial development in Neurospora crassa. We found that functionally unclassified proteins accounted for most upregulated genes, whereas downregulated genes were enriched for diverse functions. Moreover, genes associated with developmental traits exhibited stage-specific peaks of expression. Expression increased significantly across sexual development for mating type gene mat a-1 and for mat A-1 specific pheromone precursor ccg-4. In addition, expression of a gene encoding a protein similar to zinc finger, stc1, was highly upregulated early in perithecial development, and a strain with a knockout of this gene exhibited arrest at the same developmental stage. A similar expression pattern was observed for genes in RNA silencing and signaling pathways, and strains with knockouts of these genes were also arrested at stages of perithecial development that paralleled their peak in expression. The observed stage specificity allowed us to correlate expression upregulation and developmental progression and to identify regulators of sexual development. Bayesian networks inferred from our expression data revealed previously known and new putative interactions between RNA silencing genes and pathways. Overall, our analysis provides a finescale transcriptomic landscape and novel inferences regarding the control of the multistage development process of sexual crossing and fruiting body development in N. crassa. S hifts in gene expression over the course of development have been attributed a primary role in the unfolding of the developmental program of animals and plants (1-4). However, the genomic basis of development in a third multicellular clade, the fungi, is arguably very different and the least well understood. Estimated as comprising 1.5 to 7.1 million species, fungi have deep evolutionary origins (5-7) and diverse body plans, ranging from highly reduced unicellular species such as microsporidia and yeasts to notoriously large hyphal mats that produce multicellular fruiting bodies such as mushrooms, which feature specialized cell types (8). To address multicellular fruiting body development from a reverse-genetic approach, model fungi can provide ideal systems, as they are easily manipulated, develop fruiting structures with a few well-characterized tissue types, and have relatively small genome sizes, so numerous fungal genomes have been sequenced.Neurospora crassa is a multicellular ascomycete fungus in the family Sordariomycetes, which has been used as a genetic model organism due to its simple filamentous asexual stage (9, 10), and which exhibits promise for revealing the molecular basis of the more complex sexual development of fungi. N. crassa has 28 morphologically distinct cell types, including 14 that are finely differentiated during the development of...

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“…Ascus structure will be completed over the next 24 h, and the spores will mature over the next 48 h (55,44). A decline in meiosis-related transcript abundance was observed in each of the time points in the mutant; however, meiosis takes place during ascus development from about 96 to 120 h (24).…”

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confidence: 99%

The L-Type Calcium Ion Channel Cch1 Affects Ascospore Discharge and Mycelial Growth in the Filamentous FungusGibberella zeae(AnamorphFusarium graminearum)

Hallen¹,

Trail

2008

Eukaryot Cell

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Cch1, a putative voltage-gated calcium ion channel, was investigated for its role in ascus development in Gibberella zeae. Gene replacement mutants of CCH1 were generated and found to have asci which did not forcibly discharge spores, although morphologically ascus and ascospore development in the majority of asci appeared normal. Additionally, mycelial growth was significantly slower, and sexual development was slightly delayed in the mutant; mutant mycelia showed a distinctive fluffy morphology, and no cirrhi were produced. Wheat infected with ⌬cch1 mutants developed symptoms comparable to wheat infected with the wild type; however, the mutants showed a reduced ability to protect the infected stalk from colonization by saprobic fungi. Transcriptional analysis of gene expression in mutants using the Affymetrix Fusarium microarray showed 2,449 genes with significant, twofold or greater, changes in transcript abundance across a developmental series. This work extends the role of CCH1 to forcible spore discharge in G. zeae and suggests that this channel has subtle effects on growth and development.

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Microarray analysis of transcript accumulation during perithecium development in the filamentous fungus Gibberella zeae (anamorph Fusarium graminearum)

Cited by 39 publications

References 69 publications

GzSNF1Is Required for Normal Sexual and Asexual Development in the AscomyceteGibberella zeae

GzSNF1Is Required for Normal Sexual and Asexual Development in the AscomyceteGibberella zeae

Global Gene Expression and Focused Knockout Analysis Reveals Genes Associated with Fungal Fruiting Body Development in Neurospora crassa

The L-Type Calcium Ion Channel Cch1 Affects Ascospore Discharge and Mycelial Growth in the Filamentous FungusGibberella zeae(AnamorphFusarium graminearum)

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