Calpains are involved in asexual and sexual development, cell wall integrity and pathogenicity of the rice blast fungus

Sci Rep. 2016 Aug 9:6:31204. doi: 10.1038/srep31204.

Abstract

Calpains are ubiquitous and well-conserved proteins that belong to the calcium-dependent, non-lysosomal cysteine protease family. In this study, 8 putative calpains were identified using Pfam domain analysis and BlastP searches in M. oryzae. Three single gene deletion mutants (ΔMocapn7, ΔMocapn9 and ΔMocapn14) and two double gene deletion mutants (ΔMocapn4ΔMocapn7 and ΔMocapn9ΔMocapn7) were obtained using the high-throughput gene knockout system. The calpain disruption mutants showed defects in colony characteristics, conidiation, sexual reproduction and cell wall integrity. The mycelia of the ΔMocapn7, ΔMocapn4ΔMocapn7 and ΔMocapn9ΔMocapn7 mutants showed reduced pathogenicity on rice and barley.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Calpain / metabolism*
  • Cell Wall / metabolism*
  • Fungal Proteins / metabolism
  • Gene Deletion
  • Gene Expression Profiling
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal
  • Hordeum / microbiology
  • Magnaporthe / genetics*
  • Magnaporthe / pathogenicity*
  • Models, Genetic
  • Mutation
  • Mycelium / metabolism
  • Oryza / microbiology
  • Plant Diseases / microbiology
  • Proteome
  • Spores, Fungal / growth & development
  • Virulence / genetics

Substances

  • Fungal Proteins
  • Proteome
  • Calpain