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The APSES transcription factor LmStuA is required for sporulation, pathogenic development and effector gene expression in Leptosphaeria maculans.

ABSTRACT: Leptosphaeria maculans causes stem canker of oilseed rape (Brassica napus). The APSES transcription factor StuA is a key developmental regulator of fungi, involved in morphogenesis, conidia production and also more recently described as required for secondary metabolite production and for effector gene expression in phytopathogenic fungi. We investigated the involvement of the orthologue of StuA in L.?maculans, LmStuA, in morphogenesis, pathogenicity and effector gene expression. LmStuA is induced during mycelial growth and at 14 days after infection, corresponding to the development of pycnidia on oilseed rape leaves, consistent with the function of StuA described so far. We set up the functional characterization of LmStuA using an RNA interference approach. Silenced LmStuA transformants showed typical phenotypic defects of StuA mutants with altered growth in axenic culture and impaired conidia production and perithecia formation. Silencing of LmStuA abolished the pathogenicity of L.?maculans on oilseed rape leaves and also resulted in a drastic decrease in expression of at least three effector genes during in planta infection, suggesting either that LmStuA regulates, directly or indirectly, the expression of several effector genes in L.?maculans or that the infection stage in which effectors are expressed is not reached when LmStuA expression is silenced.

SUBMITTER: Soyer JL

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6638475 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The APSES transcription factor LmStuA is required for sporulation, pathogenic development and effector gene expression in Leptosphaeria maculans.

Soyer Jessica L JL Hamiot Audrey A Ollivier Bénédicte B Balesdent Marie-Hélène MH Rouxel Thierry T Fudal Isabelle I

Molecular plant pathology 20150415 9

Leptosphaeria maculans causes stem canker of oilseed rape (Brassica napus). The APSES transcription factor StuA is a key developmental regulator of fungi, involved in morphogenesis, conidia production and also more recently described as required for secondary metabolite production and for effector gene expression in phytopathogenic fungi. We investigated the involvement of the orthologue of StuA in L. maculans, LmStuA, in morphogenesis, pathogenicity and effector gene expression. LmStuA is induc ...[more]

PMID: 25727237

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Project description:Plant pathogens secrete an arsenal of small secreted proteins (SSPs) acting as effectors that modulate host immunity to facilitate infection. SSP-encoding genes are often located in particular genomic environments and show waves of concerted expression at diverse stages of plant infection. To date, little is known about the regulation of their expression. The genome of the Ascomycete Leptosphaeria maculans comprises alternating gene-rich GC-isochores and gene-poor AT-isochores. The AT-isochores harbor mosaics of transposable elements, encompassing one-third of the genome, and are enriched in putative effector genes that present similar expression patterns, namely no expression or low-level expression during axenic cultures compared to strong induction of expression during primary infection of oilseed rape (Brassica napus). Here, we investigated the involvement of one specific histone modification, histone H3 lysine 9 methylation (H3K9me3), in epigenetic regulation of concerted effector gene expression in L. maculans. For this purpose, we silenced the expression of two key players in heterochromatin assembly and maintenance, HP1 and DIM-5 by RNAi. By using HP1-GFP as a heterochromatin marker, we observed that almost no chromatin condensation is visible in strains in which LmDIM5 was silenced by RNAi. By whole genome oligoarrays we observed overexpression of 369 or 390 genes, respectively, in the silenced-LmHP1 and -LmDIM5 transformants during growth in axenic culture, clearly favouring expression of SSP-encoding genes within AT-isochores. The ectopic integration of four effector genes in GC-isochores led to their overexpression during growth in axenic culture. These data strongly suggest that epigenetic control, mediated by HP1 and DIM-5, represses the expression of at least part of the effector genes located in AT-isochores during growth in axenic culture. Our hypothesis is that changes of lifestyle and a switch toward pathogenesis lift chromatin-mediated repression, allowing a rapid response to new environmental conditions.

Dataset Information

The APSES transcription factor LmStuA is required for sporulation, pathogenic development and effector gene expression in Leptosphaeria maculans.

Publications

The APSES transcription factor LmStuA is required for sporulation, pathogenic development and effector gene expression in Leptosphaeria maculans.

Similar Datasets

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