Fus3 regulates asexual development and trap morphogenesis in the nematode-trapping fungus Arthrobotrys oligospora

Meihua Xie; Na Bai; Xuewei Yang; Yankun Liu; Ke-Qin Zhang; Jinkui Yang

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.107404

Fus3 regulates asexual development and trap morphogenesis in the nematode-trapping fungus Arthrobotrys oligospora

iScience. 2023 Aug 7;26(8):107404. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.107404. eCollection 2023 Aug 18.

Authors

Meihua Xie^{1

2}, Na Bai¹, Xuewei Yang¹, Yankun Liu¹, Ke-Qin Zhang¹, Jinkui Yang¹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Bio-Resources, Key Laboratory for Microbial Resources of the Ministry of Education, School of Life Sciences, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, P.R. China.
² School of Resource, Environment and Chemistry, Chuxiong Normal University, Chuxiong 675000, P.R. China.

Abstract

Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) Fus3 is an essential regulator of cell differentiation and virulence in fungal pathogens of plants and animals. However, the function and regulatory mechanism of MAPK signaling in nematode-trapping (NT) fungi remain largely unknown. NT fungi can specialize in the formation of "traps", an important indicator of transition from a saprophytic to a predatory lifestyle. Here, we characterized an orthologous Fus3 in a typical NT fungus Arthrobotrys oligospora using multi-phenotypic analysis and multi-omics approaches. Our results showed that Fus3 plays an important role in asexual growth and development, conidiation, stress response, DNA damage, autophagy, and secondary metabolism. Importantly, Fus3 plays an indispensable role in hyphal fusion, trap morphogenesis, and nematode predation. Moreover, we constructed the regulatory networks of Fus3 by means of transcriptomic and yeast two-hybrid techniques. This study provides insights into the mechanism of MAPK signaling in asexual development and pathogenicity of NT fungi.

Keywords: Microbial physiology; Microbiology; Molecular biology.