甘蔗鞭孢堆黑粉菌原生质体转化DNA双片段的基因敲除方法的建立

由甘蔗鞭孢堆黑粉菌Sporisorium scitamineum引起的甘蔗黑穗病是甘蔗生产的主要病害,严重影响了甘蔗的产量和品质,然而其分子致病机制报道很少,极大地影响了有效防控技术的开发。为了提高该病菌基因功能的研究效率,本研究以甘蔗鞭孢堆黑粉菌有性配合两个关键基因SsGPA3和SsPRF1为目标,建立了基于DNA双片段的甘蔗鞭孢堆黑粉菌原生质体转化基因敲除技术体系。结果表明甘蔗鞭孢堆黑粉菌单倍体细胞生长期在OD₆₀₀约为0.7,28℃下10mg/mL细胞壁裂解酶作用30min获得的原生质体产率最高,再生率最优;使用线性DNA双片段转化获得阳性转化子的成功率达90%以上,显著高于线性DNA单片段和质粒。本方法的建立将极大地提高甘蔗鞭孢堆黑粉菌的基因敲除效率,同时也为其他真菌的基因敲除提供借鉴。     

甘蔗黑穗病菌RNA干扰相关基因ssdcl的功能研究

甘蔗黑穗病菌(Sporisorium scitamineum)是典型的二型态真菌,由其引起的甘蔗黑穗病是一个全球性的病害,对甘蔗产量和含糖量造成巨大损失。RNA干扰是一种保守的小RNA介导的转录后基因沉默机制。目前甘蔗黑穗病菌的RNA干扰系统尚未明确。本研究用蛋白保守结构域对甘蔗黑穗病菌基因组进行搜索,发现了一个RNA干扰组件DICER-LIKE (SsDcl)蛋白。序列分析显示此蛋白具有剪切双链RNA所必需的RNaseⅢ结构域和双链RNA识别区域。为了研究ssdcl基因的功能,本研究以甘蔗黑穗病菌单倍体JG36为出发菌株,构建了ssdcl基因的缺失突变株。与野生型相比,Δssdcl突变体的生长速度较慢,与野生型JG35配合后形成的二倍体菌丝更为细小,且分支较多,表明ssdcl基因的缺失可能影响了黑穗病菌菌丝的生长发育过程。另外,Northern blot和qRT-PCR的结果显示,ssdcl基因缺失突变体中milR-4的表达量下调,提示ssdcl基因在甘蔗黑穗病菌milRNAs形成过程中起重要作用。     

生物表面活性剂鼠李糖脂对甘蔗黑穗病菌的体外抗菌活性

【背景】甘蔗黑穗病是一种主要的甘蔗病害,易造成甘蔗严重减产;鼠李糖脂是一种生物表面活性剂,可作为多种植物真菌病害的抑菌剂。【目的】研究生物表面活性剂鼠李糖脂对甘蔗黑穗病菌的体外抗菌活性及初步的抗菌机理。【方法】采用甘蔗黑穗病冬孢子萌发试验研究鼠李糖脂对甘蔗黑穗病冬孢子的抗菌作用。采用菌丝生长速率法和菌丝干重法对鼠李糖脂的体外抑菌试验进行检测;通过菌丝电导率的变化研究鼠李糖脂对甘蔗黑穗病菌细胞膜通透性的影响。【结果】鼠李糖脂能显著抑制甘蔗黑穗病菌孢子萌发,其中2.0 g/L鼠李糖脂对甘蔗黑穗病冬孢子萌发的抑制效果最好,抑制率达45.03%。鼠李糖脂能显著抑制甘蔗黑穗病菌双核菌丝体、单胞菌a和单胞菌b的生长。鼠李糖脂能使甘蔗黑穗病单胞菌细胞膜透性增加,与对照相比,2.0 g/L鼠李糖脂处理甘蔗黑穗病双核菌丝体0.5min后电导率升高了约9倍,处理单胞菌a30min后电导率提高了94.23%;0.1g/L鼠李糖脂处理甘蔗黑穗病单胞菌b30min后电导率升高了54.49%,随着浓度的增加,各处理电导率升高显著。【结论】鼠李糖脂对甘蔗黑穗病菌有良好的抗菌作用,有望为甘蔗黑穗病的防治提供新方法。     

Development of a loop‐mediated isothermal amplification assay for rapid and sensitive detection of Sporisorium scitamineum in sugarcane

Smut disease caused by Sporisorium scitamineum is one of the most destructive sugarcane diseases worldwide. The pathogen spreads primarily through infected sugarcane setts, and hence, the use of disease‐free planting materials is essential for preventing disease development in the field. In this study, a species‐specific loop‐mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay was developed for rapid and accurate detection of S. scitamineum. Based on the differences in internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences of S. scitamineum, a set of four species‐specific primers, F3, B3, FIP and BIP, were designed by using a panel of fungal and bacterial species as controls. After optimization of the reaction conditions, the detection limit of LAMP assay was about 2 fg of the S. scitamineum genomic DNA in 25 µL reaction solution, 100‐fold lower than that of conventional polymerase chain reaction. The assay showed high specificity to discriminate all S. scitamineum isolates from nine other fungal and bacterial pathogens. The LAMP assay also detected smut infection from young sugarcane leaves with no visible smut‐disease symptoms. The findings from this study provide a simple, highly sensitive, rapid and reliable technique for early detection of S. scitamineum, which may be useful for sugarcane quarantine and production of smut‐free seedcanes. This is the first report of LAMP‐based assay for the detection of S. scitamineum in sugarcane.     

Genome sequencing of Sporisorium scitamineum provides insights into the pathogenic mechanisms of sugarcane smut

Background

Sugarcane smut can cause losses in cane yield and sugar content that range from 30% to total crop failure. Losses tend to increase with the passage of years. Sporisorium scitamineum is the fungus that causes sugarcane smut. This fungus has the potential to infect all sugarcane species unless a species is resistant to biotrophic fungal pathogens. However, it remains unclear how the fungus breaks through the cell walls of sugarcane and causes the formation of black or gray whip-like structures on the sugarcane plants.

Results

Here, we report the first high-quality genome sequence of S. scitamineum assembled de novo with a contig N₅₀ of 41 kb, a scaffold N₅₀ of 884 kb and genome size 19.8 Mb, containing an estimated 6,636 genes. This phytopathogen can utilize a wide range of carbon and nitrogen sources. A reduced set of genes encoding plant cell wall hydrolytic enzymes leads to its biotrophic lifestyle, in which damage to the host should be minimized. As a bipolar mating fungus, a and b loci are linked and the mating-type locus segregates as a single locus. The S. scitamineum genome has only 6 G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) grouped into five classes, which are responsible for transducing extracellular signals into intracellular responses, however, the genome is without any PTH11-like GPCR. There are 192 virulence associated genes in the genome of S. scitamineum, among which 31 expressed in all the stages, which mainly encode for energy metabolism and redox of short-chain compound related enzymes. Sixty-eight candidates for secreted effector proteins (CSEPs) were found in the genome of S. scitamineum, and 32 of them expressed in the different stages of sugarcane infection, which are probably involved in infection and/or triggering defense responses. There are two non-ribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) gene clusters that are involved in the generation of ferrichrome and ferrichrome A, while the terpenes gene cluster is composed of three unknown function genes and seven biosynthesis related genes.

Conclusions

As a destructive pathogen to sugar industry, the S. scitamineum genome will facilitate future research on the genomic basis and the pathogenic mechanisms of sugarcane smut.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2164-15-996) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Female mating status affects male mating tactic expression in the wolf spider Rabidosa punctulata

Males and females have conflicting interests on the frequency and outcomes of mating interactions. Males maximize their fitness by mating with as many females as possible, whereas choosy females often reduce receptivity following copulation. Alternative male mating tactics can be adaptive in their expression to a variety of mating contexts, including interactions with a relatively unreceptive mated female. Male Rabidosa punctulata wolf spiders can adopt distinctive mating tactics when interacting with a female, a complex courtship display, and/or a more coercive direct mount tactic that often involves grappling with females for copulation. In this study, we set up female mating treatments with initial trials and then paired mated and unmated females with males to observe both female remating frequencies and the male mating tactics used during the interactions. Males adopted different mating tactics depending on the mating status of the female they were paired with. Males were more likely to adopt a direct mount tactic with already-mated females and courtship with unmated females. Already-mated females were considerably less receptive to males during experimental trials, although they did remate 34% of the time, the majority of which were with males using a direct mount tactic. Whereas males adjusting to these contextual cues were able to gain more copulations, the observation of multiple mating in female R. punctulata introduces the potential for sperm competition. We discuss this sexual conflict in terms of the fitness consequences of these mating outcomes for both males and females.     

Male mating strategies and the mating system of great-tailed grackles

Great-tailed grackles (Quiscalus mexicanus) are sexually dimorphic,dichromatic, colonially nesting blackbirds. In this study, males pursued three basic types of conditional mating strategies,each of which employed a different set of mating tactics. Territorialmales defended one or more trees in which several females nested.They achieved reproductive success by siring the offspringof their social mates and through extrapair fertilization.Resident males lived in the colony but did not defend territoriesor have social mates. Transient males passed through the colony, staying no more than a few days, and probably visited more thanone colony. Residents appeared to queue for access to territories,but transients did not. Residents and transients gained allpaternity through extrapair fertilizations and provided noparental care. Territorial males sired the majority of offspring,but residents and transients also sired small numbers of nestlings. Territorial males were larger and had longer tails than nonterritorialmales. The number of social mates was related to body size,and males that sired nestlings were heavier and had longertails than males with no genetic reproductive success. Malesthat gained paternity through extrapair fertilization wereheavier and had longer tails than males that did not. The matingsystem of great-tailed grackles can best be categorized as "non-faithful-female frank polygyny."     

Precopulatory mating behavior and sexual dimorphism in the amphipod Crustacea

Accounts in the literature of precopulatory mate-guarding in gammaridean amphipods are that males use one of two strategies for mating: either they mate-guard by carrying or attending their mates until they are ready to molt and be fertilized, or they do not guard, instead searching benthically or swarming pelagically at the time that females are ready to molt. Mate-guarding by carrying has been documented for species of the superfamilies Gammaroidea, Talitroidea, and Hadzioidea. Mate-guarding by attending has been found in the more sedentary Corophioidea and Caprellidea. Non-mate-guarders that search pelagically are species of Ampeliscoidea, Lysianassoidea, Phoxocephaloidea, Oedicerotoidea, and Pontoporeioidea. Non-mate-guarders that mate-search benthically are species of Eusiroidea, Crangonyctoidea, and Haustorioidea. Mate-guarding and non-mate-guarding males develop different secondary sex characters at maturity. Mate-guarding males have enhancements for fighting and signalling. These alterations are more elaborate in males that attend their mates than in males that carry their mates. Non-mate-guarders that search pelagically develop enhancements for swimming and sensing. Non-mate-guarders that remain benthic exhibit little change at maturity. Most mate-guarding males develop their secondary sexual characters over several molts and mate over more than one instar. Pelagic mate-searchers develop their secondary sexual characters at the last molt and mating is confined to the last instar. Females of most mate-guarding species are iteroparous, while fewer than half of non-mate-guarding species are so. It is hypothesized that mate-guarding arose more than once in the evolutionary history of amphipod Crustacea.