title: Roles of Forkhead-box Transcription Factors in Controlling Development, Pathogenicity, and Stress Response in Magnaporthe oryzae.
abstract: Although multiple transcription factors (TFs) have been characterized via mutagenesis to understand their roles in controlling pathogenicity and infection-related development in Magnaporthe oryzae, the causal agent of rice blast, if and how forkhead-box (FOX) TFs contribute to these processes remain to be characterized. Four putative FOX TF genes were identified in the genome of M. oryzae, and phylogenetic analysis suggested that two of them (MoFKH1 and MoHCM1) correspond to Ascomycota-specific members of the FOX TF family while the others (MoFOX1 and MoFOX2) are Pezizomycotina-specific members. Deletion of MoFKH1 (ΔMofkh1) resulted in reduced mycelial growth and conidial germination, abnormal septation and stress response, and reduced virulence. Similarly, ΔMohcm1 exhibited reduced mycelial growth and conidial germination. Conidia of ΔMofkh1 and ΔMohcm1 were more sensitive to one or both of the cell cycle inhibitors hydroxyurea and benomyl, suggesting their role in cell cycle control. On the other hand, loss of MoFOX1 (ΔMofox1) did not show any noticeable changes in development, pathogenicity, and stress response. Deletion of MoFOX2 was not successful even after repeated attempts. Taken together, these results suggested that MoFKH1 and Mo-HCM1 are important in fungal development and that MoFKH1 is further implicated in pathogenicity and stress response in M. oryzae.
authors.affiliation: Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Center for Fungal Genetic Resources, Center for Fungal Pathogenesis, Plant Genomics and Breeding Institute, Research Institute for Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-921, Korea.
authors.forename: Jaejin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Center for Fungal Genetic Resources, Center for Fungal Pathogenesis, Plant Genomics and Breeding Institute, Research Institute for Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-921, Korea.
authors.forename: Sunghyung
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.affiliation: Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Center for Fungal Genetic Resources, Center for Fungal Pathogenesis, Plant Genomics and Breeding Institute, Research Institute for Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-921, Korea.
authors.forename: Seryun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
authors.forename: Seogchan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.affiliation: Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Center for Fungal Genetic Resources, Center for Fungal Pathogenesis, Plant Genomics and Breeding Institute, Research Institute for Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-921, Korea.
authors.forename: Yong-Hwan
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Lee
keywords: Magnaporthe oryzae; forkhead-box transcription factor; fungal development; pathogenicity; stress response