Global Expression Profiling of Transcription Factor Genes Provides New Insights into Pathogenicity and Stress Responses in the Rice Blast Fungus

PLoS Pathogens

Yang Kim¹  Myung-Hwan Chi²  Se-Eun Lim²  Gir-Won Lee²  Jongsun Park²  Hee-Sool Rho²  Sunghyung Kong²  Yong-Hwan Lee²  Sook-Young Park²  Junhyun Jeon²  Se Ryun Kim²  Jaeyoung Choi²  Chang Hyun Khang³  Seogchan Kang⁴  Soonok Kim⁵ 

[1] Center for Food and Bioconvergence, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea;Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Fungal Bioinformatics Laboratory, Center for Fungal Genetic Resources, and Center for Fungal Pathogenesis, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea;Department of Plant Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States of America;Department of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, United States of America;National Institute of Biological Resources, Ministry of Environment, Incheon, Korea

关键词: Gene expression;    Fungal genetics;    Rice blast fungus;    Appressoria;    Oxidative stress;    Pathogenesis;    Rice;    Gene regulation;   

DOI  :  10.1371/journal.ppat.1003350

学科分类：生物科学（综合）

来源: Public Library of Science

【 摘 要 】

Because most efforts to understand the molecular mechanisms underpinning fungal pathogenicity have focused on studying the function and role of individual genes, relatively little is known about how transcriptional machineries globally regulate and coordinate the expression of a large group of genes involved in pathogenesis. Using quantitative real-time PCR, we analyzed the expression patterns of 206 transcription factor (TF) genes in the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae under 32 conditions, including multiple infection-related developmental stages and various abiotic stresses. The resulting data, which are publicly available via an online platform, provided new insights into how these TFs are regulated and potentially work together to control cellular responses to a diverse array of stimuli. High degrees of differential TF expression were observed under the conditions tested. More than 50% of the 206 TF genes were up-regulated during conidiation and/or in conidia. Mutations in ten conidiation-specific TF genes caused defects in conidiation. Expression patterns in planta were similar to those under oxidative stress conditions. Mutants of in planta inducible genes not only exhibited sensitive to oxidative stress but also failed to infect rice. These experimental validations clearly demonstrated the value of TF expression patterns in predicting the function of individual TF genes. The regulatory network of TF genes revealed by this study provides a solid foundation for elucidating how M. oryzae regulates its pathogenesis, development, and stress responses.

【 授权许可】

CC BY