A Kinesin Vdkin2 Required for Vacuole Formation, Mycelium Growth, and Penetration Structure Formation of Verticillium dahliae

Journal of Fungi

Xingyong Yang¹  Xinyao Zheng²  Zhijuan Hu²  Cuimei Guo²  Xing Yang²  Shan Xu²  Chengjian Xie²  Chi Chen² 

[1] College of Pharmacy, Chengdu University, Chengdu 610106, China;The Chongqing Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Plant Environmental Adaptations, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing 401331, China;

关键词: Verticillium dahliae;    kinesin 2;    vacuole;    penetration peg;    virulence;   

DOI  :  10.3390/jof8040391

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The soil-borne vascular fungus Verticillium dahliae infects hundreds of dicotyledonous plants, causing severe wilt diseases. During the initial colonization, V. dahliae develops a penetration peg to enable infection of cotton roots. In some phytopathogenic fungi, vacuoles play a critical role in normal formation of the infection structure. Kinesin 2 protein is associated with vacuole formation in Ustilago maydis. To identify the function of vacuoles in the V. dahliae infection structure, we identified VdKin2, an ortholog of kinesin 2, in V. dahliae and investigated its function through gene knockout. VdKin2 mutants showed severe defects in virulence and were suppressed during initial infection and root colonization based on observation of green fluorescent protein-labeled V. dahliae. We also found that deletion of VdKin2 compromised penetration peg formation and the derived septin neck. Disruption strains were viable and showed normal microsclerotia formation, whereas mycelium growth and conidial production were reduced, with shorter and more branched hyphae. Furthermore, the VdKin2 mutant, unlike wild-type V. dahliae, lacked a large basal vacuole, accompanied by a failure to generate concentrated lipid droplets. Taken together, VdKin2 regulates vacuole formation by V. dahliae, which is required for conidiation, mycelium growth, and penetration structure formation during initial plant root infection.

【 授权许可】

Unknown