Abstract
Ustilaginoidea virens, causing rice false smut (RFS) is an economically important ascomycetous fungal pathogen distributed in rice-growing regions worldwide. Here, we identified a novel transcription factor UvCGBP1 (Cutinase G-box binding protein) from this fungus, which is unique to ascomycetes. Deletion of UvCGBP1 affected development and virulence of U. virens. A total of 865 downstream target genes of UvCGBP1 was identified using ChIP-seq and the most significant KEGG enriched functional pathway was the MAPK signaling pathway. Approximately 36% of target genes contain the AGGGG (G-box) motif in their promoter. Among the targets, deletion of UvCGBP1 affected transcriptional and translational levels of UvPmk1 and UvSlt2, both of which were important in virulence. ChIP-qPCR, yeast one-hybrid and EMSA confirmed that UvCGBP1 can bind the promoter of UvPmk1 or UvSlt2. Overexpression of UvPmk1 in the ∆UvCGBP1-33 mutant restored partially its virulence and hyphae growth, indicating that UvCGBP1 could function via the MAPK pathway to regulate fungal virulence. Taken together, this study uncovered a novel regulatory mechanism of fungal virulence linking the MAPK pathway mediated by a G-box binding transcription factor, UvCGBP1.
Keywords:
ChIP-seq; MAPK pathway; Ustilaginoidea virens; UvCGBP1; virulence.
Publication types
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Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
MeSH terms
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Fungal Proteins / genetics
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Hypocreales / pathogenicity*
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Oryza* / microbiology
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Plant Diseases / microbiology*
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Transcription Factors* / genetics
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Virulence*
Substances
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Fungal Proteins
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Transcription Factors
Grants and funding
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [32072371]; Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China [2662018JC051].