Jinrong Yin, Chaofeng Hao, Gang Niu, Wei Wang, Guanghui Wang, Ping Xiang, Jin-Rong Xu, Xue Zhang.FgPal1 regulates morphogenesis and pathogenesis in Fusarium graminearum

FgPal1 regulates morphogenesis and pathogenesis in Fusarium graminearum

Jinrong Yin, Chaofeng Hao, Gang Niu, Wei Wang, Guanghui Wang, Ping Xiang, Jin-Rong Xu, Xue Zhang

Environmental Microbiology

DOI:10.1111/1462-2920.15266

Abstract

Ascospores are the primary inoculum in Fusarium graminearum, a causal agent of wheat head blight. In a previous study, FgPAL1 was found to be up-regulated in the Fgama1 mutant and important for ascosporogenesis. However, the biological function of this well-conserved gene in filamentous ascomycetes is not clear. In this study, we characterized its functions in growth, differentiation, and pathogenesis. The Fgpal1 mutant had severe growth defects and often displayed abnormal hyphal tips. It was defective in infectious growth in rachis tissues and spreading in wheat heads. The Fgpal1 mutant produced conidia with fewer septa and more nuclei per compartment than the wild type. In actively growing hyphal tips, FgPal1-GFP mainly localized to the subapical collar and septa. The FgPal1 and LifeAct partially co-localized at the subapical region in the interdependent manner. The Fgpal1 mutant was normal in meiosis with eight nuclei in developing asci but most asci were aborted. Taken together, our results showed that FgPal1 plays a role in maintaining polarized tip growth and coordination between nuclear division and cytokinesis, and it is also important for infectious growth and developments of ascospores by the free cell formation process. This article is protected by copyright.