title: Cutinase is not required for fungal pathogenicity on pea.
abstract: Cutinase, a fungal extracellular esterase, has been proposed to be crucial in the early events of plant infection by many pathogenic fungi. To test the long-standing hypothesis that cutinase of Nectria haematococca (Fusarium solani f sp pisi) is essential to pathogenicity, we constructed cutinase-deficient mutants by transformation-mediated gene disruption of the single cutinase gene of a highly virulent N. haematococca strain. Four independent mutants were obtained lacking a functional cutinase gene, as confirmed by gel blot analyses and enzyme assays. Bioassays of the cutinase-deficient strains showed no difference in pathogenicity and virulence on pea compared to the wild type and a control transformant. We conclude that the cutinase of N. haematococca is not essential for the infection of pea.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Genbiologische Forschung Berlin GmbH, Germany.
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Stahl
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Schäfer
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D002265:Carboxylic Ester Hydrolases / Q000502:physiology*; D004271:DNA, Fungal; D007887:Fabaceae / Q000382:microbiology*; D005670:Fusarium / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010946:Plants, Medicinal; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D014170:Transformation, Genetic
chemical_list: D004271:DNA, Fungal; D002265:Carboxylic Ester Hydrolases; C019952:cutinase