title: The tubulin cofactor A is involved in hyphal growth, conidiation and cold sensitivity in Fusarium asiaticum.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Tubulin cofactor A (TBCA), one of the members of tubulin cofactors, is of great importance in microtubule functions through participating in the folding of α/β-tubulin heterodimers in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. However, little is known about the roles of TBCA in filamentous fungi.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In this study, we characterized a TBCA orthologue FaTBCA in Fusarium asiaticum. The deletion of FaTBCA caused dramatically reduced mycelial growth and abnormal conidiation. The FaTBCA deletion mutant (ΔFaTBCA-3) showed increased sensitivity to low temperatures and even lost the ability of growth at 4°C. Microscopic observation found that hyphae of ΔFaTBCA-3 exhibited blebbing phenotypes after shifting from 25 to 4°C for 1- or 3-day incubation and approximately 72% enlarged nodes contained several nuclei after 3-day incubation at 4°C. However, hyphae of the wild type incubated at 4°C were phenotypically indistinguishable from those incubated at 25°C. These results indicate that FaTBCA is involved in cell division under cold stress (4°C) in F. asiaticum. Unexpectedly, ΔFaTBCA-3 did not exhibit increased sensitivity to the anti-microtubule drug carbendazim although quantitative real-time assays showed that the expression of FaTBCA was up-regulated after treatment with carbendazim. In addition, pathogenicity assays showed that ΔFaTBCA-3 exhibited decreased virulence on wheat head and on non-host tomato.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Taken together, results of this study indicate that FaTBCA plays crucial roles in vegetative growth, conidiation, temperature sensitivity and virulence in F. asiaticum.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. tao910629@sina.com.
authors.forename: Xiaoping
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. 21216173@zju.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Agriculture Quality and Standard for Agro-products, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou, China. jinhuajjh@sina.com.
authors.forename: Jinhua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. mhyu@zju.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Menghao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. ynyin@zju.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yanni
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. zhma@zju.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Zhonghua
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ma
mesh_terms: D003080:Cold Temperature; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D005670:Fusarium / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D017353:Gene Deletion; D005816:Genetic Complementation Test; D025301:Hyphae / Q000166:cytology / Q000254:growth & development*; D008853:Microscopy; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013172:Spores, Fungal / Q000166:cytology / Q000254:growth & development*
chemical_list: D004271:DNA, Fungal; D005656:Fungal Proteins; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins