title: PFP1, a gene encoding an Epc-N domain-containing protein, is essential for pathogenicity of the barley pathogen Rhynchosporium commune.
abstract: Scald caused by Rhynchosporium commune is an important foliar disease of barley. Insertion mutagenesis of R. commune generated a nonpathogenic fungal mutant which carries the inserted plasmid in the upstream region of a gene named PFP1. The characteristic feature of the gene product is an Epc-N domain. This motif is also found in homologous proteins shown to be components of histone acetyltransferase (HAT) complexes of fungi and animals. Therefore, PFP1 is suggested to be the subunit of a HAT complex in R. commune with an essential role in the epigenetic control of fungal pathogenicity. Targeted PFP1 disruption also yielded nonpathogenic mutants which showed wild-type-like growth ex planta, except for the occurrence of hyphal swellings. Complementation of the deletion mutants with the wild-type gene reestablished pathogenicity and suppressed the hyphal swellings. However, despite wild-type-level PFP1 expression, the complementation mutants did not reach wild-type-level virulence. This indicates that the function of the protein complex and, thus, fungal virulence are influenced by a position-affected long-range control of PFP1 expression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Stress and Developmental Biology, Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Halle/Saale, Germany.
authors.forename: Sylvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Siersleben
authors.affiliation: Department of Stress and Developmental Biology, Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Halle/Saale, Germany.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Penselin
authors.affiliation: Department of Stress and Developmental Biology, Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Halle/Saale, Germany.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wenzel
authors.affiliation: Department of Stress and Developmental Biology, Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Halle/Saale, Germany.
authors.forename: Sylvie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Albert
authors.affiliation: Department of Stress and Developmental Biology, Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Halle/Saale, Germany wknogge@ipb-halle.de.
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Knogge
mesh_terms: D001203:Ascomycota / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D015870:Gene Expression; D055786:Gene Knockout Techniques; D020043:Genes, Essential; D051548:Histone Acetyltransferases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D001467:Hordeum / Q000382:microbiology*; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary
chemical_list: D005656:Fungal Proteins; D051548:Histone Acetyltransferases