The Dis1/Stu2/XMAP215 Family Gene FgStu2 Is Involved in Vegetative Growth, Morphology, Sexual and Asexual Reproduction, Pathogenicity and DON Production of Fusarium graminearum

Abstract

The conserved Dis1/Stu2/XMAP215 microtubule association proteins (MAPs) family plays an important role in microtubule dynamics, nucleation, and kinetochore-microtubule attachments. However, function of Dis1/Stu2/XMAP215 homolog in plant pathogenic fungi has not been determined. Here, we identified and investigated the Dis1/Stu2/XMAP215 homolog (FGSG_10528) in Fusarium graminearum (FgStu2p). Co-localization experiment and co-immunoprecipitation (Co-IP) assay demonstrated that FgStu2p is a microtubule associated protein. Besides, FgStu2 could also interact with Fgγ-tubulin and presumed FgNdc80, which suggested that the FgStu2 gene might associate with microtubule nucleation and kinetochore-microtubule attachments like Dis1/Stu2/XMAP215 homologs in other species. Moreover, the FgStu2 promoter replacement mutants (FgStu2-Si mutants) produced twisted hyphae and decreased growth rate. Microscope examination further showed that the microtubule polymerization was reduced in FgStu2-Si mutants, which could account for the aberrant morphology. Although the microtubule polymerization was affected in FgStu2-Si mutants, the FgStu2-Si mutants didn’t show highly increased sensitivity to anti-microtubule fungicide carbendazim (methyl benzimidazol-2-ylcarbamate [MBC]). In addition, the FgStu2-Si mutants exhibited curved conidia, decreased number of conidial production, blocked ability of perithecia production, decreased pathogenicity and deoxynivalenol (DON) production. Taken together, these results indicate that the FgStu2 gene plays a crucial role in vegetative growth, morphology, sexual reproduction, asexual reproduction, virulence and deoxynivalenol (DON) production of F. graminearum, which brings new insights into the functions of Dis1/Stu2/XMAP215 homolog in plant pathogenic fungi.

Overexpression of FgPtp3 Is Involved in Fludioxonil Resistance in Fusarium graminearum by Inhibiting the Phosphorylation of FgHog1

“…cerevisiae S288C (ScPtp2: YOR208W; ScPtp3: YER075C). Additionally, multiple sequence alignment was performed using the CLUSTALW Tool from GenomeNet () …”

“…Additionally, multiple sequence alignment was performed using the CLUSTALW Tool from GenomeNet (www.genome.jp/tools-bin/clustalw). 32 Western Blotting Assays. Because the stimulation of the Hog1 mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase cascade has been reported to be critical for filamentous fungi to survive against osmotic stress, 33,34 the level of P-Hog1 in the FR mutants was investigated using Western blotting assays.…”

FfCOX17 is Involved in Fumonisins Production, Growth, Asexual Reproduction, and Fungicide Sensitivity in Fusarium fujikuroi

“…The first-strand cDNA was synthesized by HiScript II RT SuperMix for qPCR (+gDNA wiper) (Vazyme Biotech Co., Ltd, Nanjing, China). qPCR was performed with ChamQ SYBR qPCR Master Mix (Vazyme Biotech Co., Ltd, Nanjing, China) by CFX Connect Real-Time System (Bio-Rad, USA) [ 40 ]. To quantify mRNA levels of FfFUM (FUM2, FFUJ_09248), FfBIK1 (FFUJ_06742), FfBIK2 (FFUJ_06743), FfBIK3 (FFUJ_06744), FfBIK4 (FFUJ_06745), FfBIK5 (FFUJ_06746), and FfBIK6 (FFUJ_06747), we used primers FfFUM2-DL-F/FfFUM2-DL-R, FfBIK1-DL-F/FfBIK1-DL-R, FfBIK2-DL-F/FfBIK2-DL-R, FfBIK3-DL-F/FfBIK3-DL-R, FfBIK4-DL-F/FfBIK4-DL-R, FfBIK5-DL-F/FfBIK5-DL-R, and FfBIK6-DL-F/FfBIK6-DL-R, respectively ( Table S1 ).…”