title: Pathogenicity Genes in Ustilaginoidea virens Revealed by a Predicted Protein-Protein Interaction Network.
abstract: Rice false smut, caused by Ustilaginoidea virens, produces significant losses in rice yield and grain quality and has recently emerged as one of the most important rice diseases worldwide. Despite its importance in rice production, relatively few studies have been conducted to illustrate the complex interactome and the pathogenicity gene interactions. Here a protein-protein interaction network of U. virens was built through two well-recognized approaches, interolog- and domain-domain interaction-based methods. A total of 20 217 interactions associated with 3305 proteins were predicted after strict filtering. The reliability of the network was assessed computationally and experimentally. The topology of the interactome network revealed highly connected proteins. A pathogenicity-related subnetwork involving up-regulated genes during early U. virens infection was also constructed, and many novel pathogenicity proteins were predicted in the subnetwork. In addition, we built an interspecies PPI network between U. virens and Oryza sativa, providing new insights for molecular interactions of this host-pathogen pathosystem. A web-based publicly available interactive database based on these interaction networks has also been released. In summary, a proteome-scale map of the PPI network was described for U. virens, which will provide new perspectives for finely dissecting interactions of genes related to its pathogenicity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Pathology and the Ministry of Agriculture Key Laboratory for Plant Pathology, China Agricultural University , Beijing 100193, China.
authors.forename: Kang
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Pathology and the Ministry of Agriculture Key Laboratory for Plant Pathology, China Agricultural University , Beijing 100193, China.
authors.forename: Yuejiao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Pathology and the Ministry of Agriculture Key Laboratory for Plant Pathology, China Agricultural University , Beijing 100193, China.
authors.forename: Tengjiao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Pathology and the Ministry of Agriculture Key Laboratory for Plant Pathology, China Agricultural University , Beijing 100193, China.
authors.forename: Zhi-Gang
authors.initials: ZG
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph , Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada.
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hsiang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology, College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University , Beijing 100193, China.
authors.forename: Ziding
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Pathology and the Ministry of Agriculture Key Laboratory for Plant Pathology, China Agricultural University , Beijing 100193, China.
authors.forename: Wenxian
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-6352-2461
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Sun
mesh_terms: D005800:Genes, Fungal; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions / Q000235:genetics; D006999:Hypocreales / Q000472:pathogenicity; D012275:Oryza / Q000235:genetics* / Q000382:microbiology; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000382:microbiology; D060066:Protein Interaction Maps / Q000235:genetics*; D014774:Virulence / Q000235:genetics*
keywords: Ustilaginoidea virens; domain−domain interaction; interolog; pathogenicity; protein−protein interaction (PPI); secreted protein