Dataset Information

Morphological changes in response to environmental stresses in the fungal plant pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici.

ABSTRACT: During their life cycles, pathogens have to adapt to many biotic and abiotic environmental stresses to maximize their overall fitness. Morphological transitions are one of the least understood of the many strategies employed by fungal plant pathogens to adapt to constantly changing environments, even though different morphotypes may play important biological roles. Here, we first show that blastospores (the "yeast-like" form of the pathogen typically known only under laboratory conditions) can form from germinated pycnidiospores (asexual spores) on the surface of wheat leaves, suggesting that this morphotype can play an important role in the natural history of Z. tritici. Next, we characterized the morphological responses of this fungus to a series of environmental stresses to understand the effects of changing environments on fungal morphology and adaptation. All tested stresses induced morphological changes, but different responses were found among four strains. We discovered that Z. tritici forms chlamydospores and demonstrated that these structures are better able to survive extreme cold, heat and drought than other cell types. Finally, a transcriptomic analysis showed that morphogenesis and the expression of virulence factors are co-regulated in this pathogen. Our findings illustrate how changing environmental conditions can affect cellular morphology and lead to the formation of new morphotypes, with each morphotype having a potential impact on both pathogen survival and disease epidemiology.

SUBMITTER: Francisco CS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6610121 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Morphological changes in response to environmental stresses in the fungal plant pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici.

Francisco Carolina Sardinha CS Ma Xin X Zwyssig Maria Manuela MM McDonald Bruce A BA Palma-Guerrero Javier J

Scientific reports 20190703 1

During their life cycles, pathogens have to adapt to many biotic and abiotic environmental stresses to maximize their overall fitness. Morphological transitions are one of the least understood of the many strategies employed by fungal plant pathogens to adapt to constantly changing environments, even though different morphotypes may play important biological roles. Here, we first show that blastospores (the "yeast-like" form of the pathogen typically known only under laboratory conditions) can f ...[more]

PMID: 31270361

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Project description:BackgroundThe fungal pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici is a significant constraint to wheat production in temperate cropping regions around the world. Despite its agronomic impacts, the mechanisms allowing the pathogen to asymptomatically invade and grow in the apoplast of wheat leaves before causing extensive host cell death remain elusive. Given recent evidence of extracellular vesicles (EVs)-secreted, membrane-bound nanoparticles containing molecular cargo-being implicated in extracellular communication between plants and fungal pathogen, we have initiated an in vitro investigation of EVs from this apoplastic fungal wheat pathogen. We aimed to isolate EVs from Z. tritici broth cultures and examine their protein composition in relation to the soluble protein in the culture filtrate and to existing fungal EV proteomes.ResultsZymoseptoria tritici EVs were isolated from broth culture filtrates using differential ultracentrifugation (DUC) and examined with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA). Z. tritici EVs were observed as a heterogeneous population of particles, with most between 50 and 250 nm. These particles were found in abundance in the culture filtrates of viable Z. tritici cultures, but not heat-killed cultures incubated for an equivalent time and of comparable biomass. Bottom-up proteomic analysis using LC-MS/MS, followed by stringent filtering revealed 240 Z. tritici EV proteins. These proteins were distinct from soluble proteins identified in Z. tritici culture filtrates, but were similar to proteins identified in EVs from other fungi, based on sequence similarity analyses. Notably, a putative marker protein recently identified in Candida albicans EVs was also consistently detected in Z. tritici EVs.ConclusionWe have shown EVs can be isolated from the devastating fungal wheat pathogen Z. tritici and are similar to protein composition to previously characterised fungal EVs. EVs from human pathogenic fungi are implicated in virulence, but the role of EVs in the interaction of phytopathogenic fungi and their hosts is unknown. These in vitro analyses provide a basis for expanding investigations of Z. tritici EVs in planta, to examine their involvement in the infection process of this apoplastic wheat pathogen and more broadly, advance understanding of noncanonical secretion in filamentous plant pathogens.

Dataset Information

Morphological changes in response to environmental stresses in the fungal plant pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici.

Publications

Morphological changes in response to environmental stresses in the fungal plant pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici.

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