title: A Putative Transcription Factor pcs1 Positively Regulates Both Conidiation and Sexual Reproduction in the Cereal Pathogen Fusarium graminearum.
abstract: The plant pathogen Fusarium graminearum causes Fusarium head blight in cereal crops and produces mycotoxins that are harmful to animals and humans. For the initiation and spread of disease, asexual and sexual reproduction is required. Therefore, studies on fungal reproduction contribute to the development of new methods to control and maintain the fungal population. Screening a previously generated transcription factor mutant collection, we identified one putative C2H2 zinc-finger transcription factor, pcs1, which is required for both sexual and asexual reproduction. Deleting pcs1 in F. graminearum resulted in a dramatic reduction in conidial production and a complete loss of sexual reproduction. The pathways and gene ontology of pcs1-dependent genes from microarray experiments showed that several G-protein related pathways, oxidase activity, ribosome biogenesis, and RNA binding and processing were highly enriched, suggesting that pcs1 is involved in several different biological processes. Further, overexpression of pcs1 increased conidial production and resulted in earlier maturation of ascospores compared to the wild-type strain. Additionally, the vegetative growth of the overexpression mutants was decreased in nutrient-rich conditions but was not different from the wild-type strain in nutrient-poor conditions. Overall, we discovered that the pcs1 transcription factor positively regulates both conidiation and sexual reproduction and confers nutrient condition-dependent vegetative growth.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Biology, Dong-A University, Busan 604-714, Korea.
authors.forename: Boknam
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Pusan National University, Busan 609-735, Korea.
authors.forename: Jungwook
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Agricultural Biotechnology and Center for Fungal Pathogenesis, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-921, Korea.
authors.forename: Hokyoung
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Son
authors.affiliation: Department of Agricultural Biotechnology and Center for Fungal Pathogenesis, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-921, Korea.
authors.forename: Yin-Won
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Pusan National University, Busan 609-735, Korea.
authors.forename: Young-Su
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Seo
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Biology, Dong-A University, Busan 604-714, Korea.
authors.forename: Jungkwan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lee
keywords: Conidiation; Fusarium graminearum; Gibberella zeae; sexual reproduction; transcription factor