title: A novel high-affinity sucrose transporter is required for virulence of the plant pathogen Ustilago maydis.
abstract: Plant pathogenic fungi cause massive yield losses and affect both quality and safety of food and feed produced from infected plants. The main objective of plant pathogenic fungi is to get access to the organic carbon sources of their carbon-autotrophic hosts. However, the chemical nature of the carbon source(s) and the mode of uptake are largely unknown. Here, we present a novel, plasma membrane-localized sucrose transporter (Srt1) from the corn smut fungus Ustilago maydis and its characterization as a fungal virulence factor. Srt1 has an unusually high substrate affinity, is absolutely sucrose specific, and allows the direct utilization of sucrose at the plant/fungal interface without extracellular hydrolysis and, thus, without the production of extracellular monosaccharides known to elicit plant immune responses. srt1 is expressed exclusively during infection, and its deletion strongly reduces fungal virulence. This emphasizes the central role of this protein both for efficient carbon supply and for avoidance of apoplastic signals potentially recognized by the host.
authors.affiliation: Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute for Applied Biosciences, Department of Genetics, Karlsruhe, Germany.
authors.forename: Ramon
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wahl
authors.forename: Kathrin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wippel
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Goos
authors.forename: Jörg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kämper
authors.forename: Norbert
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sauer
mesh_terms: D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D005816:Genetic Complementation Test; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D010802:Phylogeny; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000382:microbiology; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D013395:Sucrose / Q000378:metabolism*; D014588:Ustilago / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D014774:Virulence / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D003313:Zea mays / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D005656:Fungal Proteins; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins; D010940:Plant Proteins; C078729:sucrose transport protein, plant; D013395:Sucrose