title: The fungal-specific transcription factor Vdpf influences conidia production, melanized microsclerotia formation and pathogenicity in Verticillium dahliae.
abstract: Verticillium dahliae is a soil-borne, hemibiotrophic phytopathogenic fungus that causes wilting in crop plants. Here, we constructed a random insertional mutant library using Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation to study the pathogenicity and regulatory mechanisms of V. dahliae. The fungal-specific transcription factor-encoding gene Vdpf was shown to be associated with vegetative growth and virulence, with the highest transcript expression occurring during conidia formation in the V991 strain. The deletion mutants (ΔVdpf) and insertion mutants (IMΔVdpf) produced fewer conidia than did the wild-type (WT) fungi, which contributed to the reduced virulence. Unlike the WT, the complemented strains and IMΔVdpf, ΔVdpf formed swollen, thick-walled and hyaline mycelium rather than melanized microsclerotia. The ΔVdpf mutants were melanin deficient, with undetectable expression of melanin biosynthesis-related genes (Brn1, Brn2 and Scd1). The melanin deficiency was related to cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) and the G-protein-coupled signalling pathways in this study. Similar to the WT and complemented strains, the ΔVdpf and IMΔVdpf mutants could also successfully penetrate into cotton and tobacco roots, but displayed reduced virulence because of lower biomass in the plant roots and significantly reduced expression of pathogenicity-related genes in V. dahliae. In conclusion, these results provide insights into the role of Vdpf in melanized microsclerotia formation, conidia production and pathogenicity.
authors: The School of Life Science, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China.|The Chongqing Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Plant Environmental Adaptations and the College of Life Science, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, 401331, China.
authors: Xiumei
authors: X
authors: Luo
authors: The School of Life Science, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China.
authors: Hongqiang
authors: H
authors: Mao
authors: The Chongqing Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Plant Environmental Adaptations and the College of Life Science, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, 401331, China.
authors: Yunming
authors: Y
authors: Wei
authors: The Chongqing Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Plant Environmental Adaptations and the College of Life Science, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, 401331, China.
authors: Jie
authors: J
authors: Cai
authors: The Chongqing Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Plant Environmental Adaptations and the College of Life Science, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, 401331, China.
authors: Chengjian
authors: C
authors: Xie
authors: The School of Life Science, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China.
authors: Anping
authors: A
authors: Sui
authors: The Chongqing Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Plant Environmental Adaptations and the College of Life Science, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, 401331, China.
authors: Xingyong
authors: X
authors: Yang
authors: The School of Life Science, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China.
authors: Jinyan
authors: J
authors: Dong
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D024202:Electrophoretic Mobility Shift Assay; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015966:Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal; D005800:Genes, Fungal; D008543:Melanins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional / Q000235:genetics; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics; D010641:Phenotype; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013045:Species Specificity; D013172:Spores, Fungal / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism*; D020172:Verticillium / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D014774:Virulence / Q000235:genetics; D016335:Zinc Fingers
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D005656:Fungal Proteins; D008543:Melanins; C036483:T-DNA; D014157:Transcription Factors
keywords: Verticillium dahliae; conidiation; fungal-specific transcription factor; melanized microsclerotia; pathogenicity