title: Functional Analysis of the Pathogenicity-Related Gene VdPR1 in the Vascular Wilt Fungus Verticillium dahliae.
abstract: Verticillium dahliae Kleb., the causal agent of vascular wilt, can seriously diminish the yield and quality of many crops, including cotton. The pathogenic mechanism to cotton is complicated and unclear now. To screen pathogencity related genes and identify their function is the reliable way to explain the mechanism. In this study, we obtained a low-pathogenicity mutant vdpr1 from a T-DNA insertional library of the highly virulent isolate of V. dahliae Vd080, isolated from cotton. The tagged gene was named pathogenicity-related gene (VdPR1). The deletion mutant ΔVdPR1 did not form microsclerotia and showed a drastic reduction in spore yield and mycelial growth, compared to wild type. Also, ΔVdPR1 showed significantly lower protease and cellulase activities than those of wild type. Complementation of the mutant strain with VdPR1 (strain ΔVdPR1-C) almost completely rescued the attributes described above to wild-type levels. The knockout mutant ΔVdPR1 showed delayed infection, caused mild disease symptoms, formed a smaller biomass in roots of the host, and showed compromised systemic invasive growth in the xylem. These results suggest that VdPR1 is a multifaceted gene involved in regulating the growth development, early infection and pathogenicity of V. dahliae.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cotton Biology, Institute of Cotton Research of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Anyang, Henan, 455000, China.
authors.forename: Ya-Lin
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cotton Biology, Institute of Cotton Research of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Anyang, Henan, 455000, China.
authors.forename: Zhi-Fang
authors.initials: ZF
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cotton Biology, Institute of Cotton Research of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Anyang, Henan, 455000, China.
authors.forename: Zi-Li
authors.initials: ZL
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cotton Biology, Institute of Cotton Research of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Anyang, Henan, 455000, China.
authors.forename: Hong-Jie
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cotton Biology, Institute of Cotton Research of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Anyang, Henan, 455000, China.
authors.forename: Yong-Qiang
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cotton Biology, Institute of Cotton Research of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Anyang, Henan, 455000, China.
authors.forename: Li-Hong
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cotton Biology, Institute of Cotton Research of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Anyang, Henan, 455000, China.
authors.forename: Xi-Ling
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cotton Biology, Institute of Cotton Research of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Anyang, Henan, 455000, China.
authors.forename: He-Qin
authors.initials: HQ
authors.lastname: Zhu
mesh_terms: D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D015966:Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal; D003368:Gossypium / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000382:microbiology*; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000382:microbiology; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000382:microbiology; D013172:Spores, Fungal / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity; D020172:Verticillium / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D005656:Fungal Proteins; C036483:T-DNA