title: Global aspects of pacC regulation of pathogenicity genes in Colletotrichum gloeosporioides as revealed by transcriptome analysis.
abstract: Colletotrichum gloeosporioides alkalinizes its surroundings during colonization of host tissue. The transcription factor pacC is a regulator of pH-controlled genes and is essential for successful colonization. We present here the sequence assembly of the Colletotrichum fruit pathogen and use it to explore the global regulation of pathogenicity by ambient pH. The assembled genome size was 54 Mb, encoding 18,456 genes. Transcriptomes of the wild type and ΔpacC mutant were established by RNA-seq and explored for their global pH-dependent gene regulation. The analysis showed that pacC upregulates 478 genes and downregulates 483 genes, comprising 5% of the fungal genome, including transporters, antioxidants, and cell-wall-degrading enzymes. Interestingly, gene families with similar functionality are both up- and downregulated by pacC. Global analysis of secreted genes showed significant pacC activation of degradative enzymes at alkaline pH and during fruit infection. Select genes from alkalizing-type pathogen C. gloeosporioides and from acidifying-type pathogen Sclerotinia sclerotiorum were verified by quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction analysis at different pH values. Knock out of several pacC-activated genes confirmed their involvement in pathogenic colonization of alkalinized surroundings. The results suggest a global regulation by pacC of key pathogenicity genes during pH change in alkalinizing and acidifying pathogens.
authors.forename: Noam
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Alkan
authors.forename: Xiangchun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.forename: Gilgi
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Friedlander
authors.forename: Eli
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Reuveni
authors.forename: Serenella
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sukno
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sherman
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Thon
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fluhr
authors.forename: Dov
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Prusky
mesh_terms: D020231:Colletotrichum / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D015536:Down-Regulation; D005638:Fruit / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015966:Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal; D055786:Gene Knockout Techniques; D016681:Genome, Fungal / Q000235:genetics*; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D058977:Molecular Sequence Annotation; D005810:Multigene Family; D027421:Persea / Q000382:microbiology; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA; D017384:Sequence Deletion; D013045:Species Specificity; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D059467:Transcriptome; D037521:Virulence Factors
chemical_list: D005656:Fungal Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; D037521:Virulence Factors