Programmed cell death correlates with virus transmission in a filamentous fungus

Programmed cell death (PCD) is an essential part of the defence response in plants and animals against pathogens. Here, we report that PCD is also involved in defence against pathogens of fungi. Vegetative incompatibility is a self/non-self recognition system in fungi that results in PCD when cells of incompatible strains fuse. We quantified the frequency of cell death associated with six vegetative incompatibility (vic) genes in the filamentous ascomycete fungus Cryphonectria parasitica. Cell death frequencies were compared with the effects of vic genes on transmission of viruses between the same strains. We found a significant negative correlation between cell death and virus transmission. We also show that asymmetry in cell death correlates with asymmetry in virus transmission; greater transmission occurs into vic genotypes that exhibit delayed or infrequent PCD after fusion with an incompatible strain. Furthermore, we found that virus infection can have a significant, strain-specific, positive or negative effect on PCD. Specific interactions between vic gene function and viruses, along with correlations between cell death and transmission, strongly implicate PCD as a host-mediated pathogen defence strategy in fungi.     

Anti-apoptotic machinery protects the necrotrophic fungus Botrytis cinerea from host-induced apoptotic-like cell death during plant infection

Necrotrophic fungi are unable to occupy living plant cells. How such pathogens survive first contact with living host tissue and initiate infection is therefore unclear. Here, we show that the necrotrophic grey mold fungus Botrytis cinerea undergoes massive apoptotic-like programmed cell death (PCD) following germination on the host plant. Manipulation of an anti-apoptotic gene BcBIR1 modified fungal response to PCD-inducing conditions. As a consequence, strains with reduced sensitivity to PCD were hyper virulent, while strains in which PCD was over-stimulated showed reduced pathogenicity. Similarly, reduced levels of PCD in the fungus were recorded following infection of Arabidopsis mutants that show enhanced susceptibility to B. cinerea. When considered together, these results suggest that Botrytis PCD machinery is targeted by plant defense molecules, and that the fungal anti-apoptotic machinery is essential for overcoming this host-induced PCD and hence, for establishment of infection. As such, fungal PCD machinery represents a novel target for fungicides and antifungal drugs.     

The BRI1-associated kinase 1, BAK1, has a brassinolide-independent role in plant cell-death control

Programmed cell death (PCD) is a common host response to microbial infection [1-3]. In plants, PCD is associated with immunity to biotrophic pathogens, but it can also promote disease upon infection by necrotrophic pathogens [4]. Therefore, plant cell-suicide programs must be strictly controlled. Here we demonstrate that the Arabidopsis thaliana Brassinosteroid Insensitive 1 (BRI1)-associated receptor Kinase 1 (BAK1), which operates as a coreceptor of BRI1 in brassinolide (BL)-dependent plant development, also regulates the containment of microbial infection-induced cell death. BAK1-deficient plants develop spreading necrosis upon infection. This is accompanied by production of reactive oxygen intermediates and results in enhanced susceptibility to necrotrophic fungal pathogens. The exogenous application of BL rescues growth defects of bak1 mutants but fails to restore immunity to fungal infection. Moreover, BL-insensitive and -deficient mutants do not exhibit spreading necrosis or enhanced susceptibility to fungal infections. Together, these findings suggest that plant steroid-hormone signaling is dispensable for the containment of infection-induced PCD. We propose a novel, BL-independent function of BAK1 in plant cell-death control that is distinct from its BL-dependent role in plant development.     

Oxalic acid is an elicitor of plant programmed cell death during Sclerotinia sclerotiorum disease development

Accumulating evidence supports the idea that necrotrophic plant pathogens interact with their hosts by controlling cell death. Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is a necrotrophic ascomycete fungus with a broad host range (>400 species). Previously, we established that oxalic acid (OA) is an important pathogenicity determinant of this fungus. In this report, we describe a mechanism by which oxalate contributes to the pathogenic success of this fungus; namely, that OA induces a programmed cell death (PCD) response in plant tissue that is required for disease development. This response exhibits features associated with mammalian apoptosis, including DNA laddering and TUNEL reactive cells. Fungal mutants deficient in OA production are nonpathogenic, and apoptotic-like characteristics are not observed following plant inoculation. The induction of PCD by OA is independent of the pH-reducing abilities of this organic acid, which is required for sclerotial development. Moreover, oxalate also induces increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels in the plant, which correlate to PCD. When ROS induction is inhibited, apoptotic-like cell death induced by OA does not occur. Taken together, we show that Sclerotinia spp.-secreted OA is an elicitor of PCD in plants and is responsible for induction of apoptotic-like features in the plant during disease development. This PCD is essential for fungal pathogenicity and involves ROS. Thus, OA appears to function by triggering in the plant pathways responsible for PCD. Further, OA secretion by Sclerotinia spp. is not directly toxic but, more subtly, may function as a signaling molecule.     

Apoptosis-like programmed cell death in the grey mould fungus Botrytis cinerea: genes and their role in pathogenicity

A considerable number of fungal homologues of human apoptotic genes have been identified in recent years. Nevertheless, we are far from being able to connect the different pieces and construct a primary structure of the fungal apoptotic regulatory network. To get a better picture of the available fungal components, we generated an automatic search protocol that is based on protein sequences together with a domain-centred approach. We used this protocol to search all the available fungal databases for domains and homologues of human apoptotic proteins. Among all known apoptotic domains, only the BIR [baculovirus IAP (inhibitor of apoptosis protein) repeat] domain was found in fungi. A single protein with one or two BIR domains is present in most (but not all) fungal species. We isolated the BIR-containing protein from the grey mould fungus Botrytis cinerea and determined its role in apoptosis and pathogenicity. We also isolated and analysed BcNMA, a homologue of the yeast NMA11 gene. Partial knockout or overexpression strains of BcBIR1 confirmed that BcBir1 is anti-apoptotic and this activity was assigned to the N'-terminal part of the protein. Plant infection assays showed that the fungus undergoes massive PCD (programmed cell death) during early stages of infection. Further studies showed that fungal virulence was fully correlated with the ability of the fungus to cope with plant-induced PCD. Together, our result show that BcBir1 is a major regulator of PCD in B. cinerea and that proper regulation of the host-induced PCD is essential for pathogenesis in this and other similar fungal pathogens.     

Generation of IL-23 producing dendritic cells (DCs) by airborne fungi regulates fungal pathogenicity via the induction of T(H)-17 responses

Interleukin-17 (IL-17) producing T helper cells (T(H)-17) comprise a newly recognized T cell subset with an emerging role in adaptive immunity to a variety of fungi. Whether different airborne fungi trigger a common signaling pathway for T(H)-17 induction, and whether this ability is related to the inherent pathogenic behavior of each fungus is currently unknown. Here we show that, as opposed to primary pathogenic fungi (Histoplasma capsulatum), opportunistic fungal pathogens (Aspergillus and Rhizopus) trigger a common innate sensing pathway in human dendritic cells (DCs) that results in robust production of IL-23 and drives T(H)-17 responses. This response requires activation of dectin-1 by the fungal cell wall polysaccharide b-glucan that is selectively exposed during the invasive growth of opportunistic fungi. Notably, unmasking of b-glucan in the cell wall of a mutant of Histoplasma not only abrogates the pathogenicity of this fungus, but also triggers the induction of IL-23 producing DCs. Thus, b-glucan exposure in the fungal cell wall is essential for the induction of IL-23/T(H)-17 axis and may represent a key factor that regulates protective immunity to opportunistic but not pathogenic fungi.     

Programmed cell death in host-symbiont associations,viewed through the Gene Ontology

Manipulation of programmed cell death (PCD) is central to many host microbe interactions. Both plant and animal cells use PCD as a powerful weapon against biotrophic pathogens, including viruses, which draw their nutrition from living tissue. Thus, diverse biotrophic pathogens have evolved many mechanisms to suppress programmed cell death, and mutualistic and commensal microbes may employ similar mechanisms. Necrotrophic pathogens derive their nutrition from dead tissue, and many produce toxins specifically to trigger programmed cell death in their hosts. Hemibiotrophic pathogens manipulate PCD in a most exquisite way, suppressing PCD during the biotrophic phase and stimulating it during the necrotrophic phase. This mini-review will summarize the mechanisms that have evolved in diverse microbes and hosts for controlling PCD and the Gene Ontology terms developed by the Plant-Associated Microbe Gene Ontology (PAMGO) Consortium for describing those mechanisms.     

Dynamic intracellular reorganization of cytoskeletons and the vacuole in defense responses and hypersensitive cell death in plants

Plants have evolved various means for controlled and organized cell destruction, known as programmed cell death (PCD). In plant immune responses against microbial infection, hypersensitive cell death as a form of PCD is a crucial event to prevent the spread of biotrophic pathogens. Recent live cell imaging techniques have revealed dynamic features and significant roles of cytoskeletons and the vacuole during defense responses and the PCD. Actin microfilaments (MFs) focus on the infection sites and function as tracks for the polar transport of antimicrobial materials. To accomplish hypersensitive cell death, further dynamic changes in cytoskeletons are induced. MFs play a role in the structural and functional regulation of the vacuole, leading to execution of the PCD. We here overview spatiotemporal dynamic changes in the cytoskeletons and the vacuoles triggered by signals from pathogens, and propose a hypothetical model for MF-regulated vacuole-mediated PCD in plant immunity.     

Metabolism and detoxification of phytoalexins and analogs by phytopathogenic fungi

To date, the many examples reporting that fungal pathogens can efficiently detoxify phytoalexins provide strong evidence that the pathogenicity and/or virulence of some fungi is linked to their ability to detoxify their hosts' phytoalexins. The pathways used by plant pathogenic fungi to metabolize and detoxify phytoalexins are reviewed. Prospects for application of recent findings are discussed.     

Key thermally dimorphic fungal pathogens: shaping host immunity

Exposure to fungal pathogens from the environment is inevitable and with the number of at-risk populations increasing, the prevalence of invasive fungal infection is on the rise. An interesting group of fungal organisms known as thermally dimorphic fungi predominantly infects immunocompromised individuals. These potential pathogens are intriguing in that they survive in the environment in one form, mycelial phase, but when entering the host, they are triggered by the change in temperature to switch to a new pathogenic form. Considering the growing prevalence of infection and the need for improved diagnostic and treatment approaches, studies identifying key components of fungal recognition and the innate immune response to these pathogens will significantly contribute to our understanding of disease progression. This review focuses on key endemic dimorphic fungal pathogens that significantly contribute to disease, including Histoplasma, Coccidioides and Talaromyces species. We briefly describe their prevalence, route of infection and clinical presentation. Importantly, we have reviewed the major fungal cell wall components of these dimorphic fungi, the host pattern recognition receptors responsible for recognition and important innate immune responses supporting adaptive immunity and fungal clearance or the failure thereof.     

Lesion mimic mutants: keys for deciphering cell death and defense pathways in plants?

The identification of several lesion mimic mutants (LMM) that misregulate cell death constitutes a powerful tool to unravel programmed cell death (PCD) pathways in plants, particularly the hypersensitive response (HR), a form of PCD associated with resistance to pathogens. Recently, the characterization of novel LMM has enabled genes that might regulate cell death programmes to be identified as well as the dissection of defense signaling pathways and of crosstalk between multiple pathways in ways that might not be possible by studying the responses of wild-type plants to pathogens.     

Morphological classification of plant cell deaths

Programmed cell death (PCD) is an integral part of plant development and of responses to abiotic stress or pathogens. Although the morphology of plant PCD is, in some cases, well characterised and molecular mechanisms controlling plant PCD are beginning to emerge, there is still confusion about the classification of PCD in plants. Here we suggest a classification based on morphological criteria. According to this classification, the use of the term 'apoptosis' is not justified in plants, but at least two classes of PCD can be distinguished: vacuolar cell death and necrosis. During vacuolar cell death, the cell contents are removed by a combination of autophagy-like process and release of hydrolases from collapsed lytic vacuoles. Necrosis is characterised by early rupture of the plasma membrane, shrinkage of the protoplast and absence of vacuolar cell death features. Vacuolar cell death is common during tissue and organ formation and elimination, whereas necrosis is typically found under abiotic stress. Some examples of plant PCD cannot be ascribed to either major class and are therefore classified as separate modalities. These are PCD associated with the hypersensitive response to biotrophic pathogens, which can express features of both necrosis and vacuolar cell death, PCD in starchy cereal endosperm and during self-incompatibility. The present classification is not static, but will be subject to further revision, especially when specific biochemical pathways are better defined.     

Pattern-Triggered Immunity Suppresses Programmed Cell Death Triggered by Fumonisin B1

Programmed cell death (PCD) is a crucial process for plant innate immunity and development. In plant innate immunity, PCD is believed to prevent the spread of pathogens from the infection site. Although proper control of PCD is important for plant fitness, we have limited understanding of the molecular mechanisms regulating plant PCD. Plant innate immunity triggered by recognition of effectors (effector-triggered immunity, ETI) is often associated with PCD. However pattern-triggered immunity (PTI), which is triggered by recognition of elicitors called microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs), is not. Therefore we hypothesized that PTI might suppress PCD. Here we report that PCD triggered by the mycotoxin fumonisin B1 (FB1) can be suppressed by PTI in Arabidopsis. FB1-triggered cell death was suppressed by treatment with the MAMPs flg22 (a part of bacterial flagellin) or elf18 (a part of the bacterial elongation factor EF-Tu) but not chitin (a component of fungal cell walls). Although plant hormone signaling is associated with PCD and PTI, both FB1-triggered cell death and suppression of cell death by flg22 treatment were still observed in mutants deficient in jasmonic acid (JA), ethylene (ET) and salicylic acid (SA) signaling. The MAP kinases MPK3 and MPK6 are transiently activated and inactivated within one hour during PTI. We found that FB1 activated MPK3 and MPK6 about 36–48 hours after treatment. Interestingly, this late activation was attenuated by flg22 treatment. These results suggest that PTI suppression of FB1-triggered cell death may involve suppression of MPK3/MPK6 signaling but does not require JA/ET/SA signaling.     

Secondary metabolite toxins and nutrition of plant pathogenic fungi

Fungal pathogens derive nutrition from the plants they invade. Some fungi can subvert plant defence responses such as programmed cell death to provide nutrition for their growth and colonisation. Secondary metabolite toxins produced by fungi often play a role in triggering these responses. Knowledge of the biosynthesis of these toxins, and the availability of fungal genome sequences and gene disruption techniques, allows the development of tools for experiments aimed at discovering the role of such toxins in triggering plant cell death and plant disease.     

植物细胞程序死亡的机理及其与发育的关系

细胞程序死亡（PCD）是在植物体发育过程中普遍存在的,在发育的特定阶段发生的自然的细胞死亡过程,这一死亡过程是由某些特定基因编码的“死亡程序”控制的。PCD是细胞分化的最后阶段。细胞分化的临界期就处于死亡程序执行中的某个阶段。PCD包含启动期、效应期和清除期三个阶段,其间caspase家族起着重要作用。PCD在细胞和组织的平衡、特化,以及组织分化、器官建成和对病原体的反应等植物发育过程中起着重要作用。PCD中的形态学变化和生物化学变化都有着严格的时序性。植物的PCD和动物的PCD有许多共性,包括细胞形态和DNA降解等变化。也有一些不同,植物PCD的产物既可被其它细胞吸收利用;也可用于构建自身的次生细胞壁。     

植物细胞程序死亡的机理及其与发育的关系

细胞程序死亡（ＰＣＤ）是在植物体发育过程中普遍存在的,在发育的特定阶段发生的自然的细胞死亡过程,这一死亡过程是由某些特定基因编码的“死亡程序”控制的。ＰＣＤ的细胞分化的最后阶段。细胞分化的临界期就牌死亡程序执行中的某个阶段。ＰＣＤ包含启动期和清除期三个阶段,其间ＣＡＳＰＡＳＥ家族起着重要作用。ＰＣＤ在细胞和组织的平衡、特化,以及组织分化、器官建成和对病原体的反应等植物发育过程中起着重要作用。ＰＣＤ     

Fungal tolerance to Congo red,a cell wall integrity stress,as a promising indicator of ecological niche

Differential sensitivities to the cell wall stress caused by Congo red (CR) have been observed in many fungal species. In this study, the tolerances and sensitivities to CR was studied with an assorted collection of fungal species from three phylogenetic classes: Sordariomycetes, Dothideomycetes, and Eurotiomycetes, three orders, and eight families. These grouped into different ecological niches, such as insect pathogens, plant pathogens, saprotrophs, and mycoparasitics. The saprotroph Aspergillus niger and the mycoparasite Trichoderma atroviride stood out as the most resistant species to cell wall stress caused by CR, followed by the plant pathogenic fungi, a mycoparasite, and other saprotrophs. The insect pathogens had low tolerance to CR. The insect pathogens Metarhizium acridum and Cordyceps fumosorosea were the most sensitive to CR. In conclusion, Congo red tolerance may reflect ecological niche, accordingly, the tolerances of the fungal species to Congo red were closely aligned with their ecology.     

Expression of an oxalate decarboxylase impairs the necrotic effect induced by Nep1-like protein (NLP) of Moniliophthora perniciosa in transgenic tobacco

Oxalic acid (OA) and Nep1-like proteins (NLP) are recognized as elicitors of programmed cell death (PCD) in plants, which is crucial for the pathogenic success of necrotrophic plant pathogens and involves reactive oxygen species (ROS). To determine the importance of oxalate as a source of ROS for OA- and NLP-induced cell death, a full-length cDNA coding for an oxalate decarboxylase (FvOXDC) from the basidiomycete Flammulina velutipes, which converts OA into CO(2) and formate, was overexpressed in tobacco plants. The transgenic plants contained less OA and more formic acid compared with the control plants and showed enhanced resistance to cell death induced by exogenous OA and MpNEP2, an NLP of the hemibiotrophic fungus Moniliophthora perniciosa. This resistance was correlated with the inhibition of ROS formation in the transgenic plants inoculated with OA, MpNEP2, or a combination of both PCD elicitors. Taken together, these results have established a pivotal function for oxalate as a source of ROS required for the PCD-inducing activity of OA and NLP. The results also indicate that FvOXDC represents a potentially novel source of resistance against OA- and NLP-producing pathogens such as M. perniciosa, the causal agent of witches' broom disease of cacao (Theobroma cacao L.).     

Challenges and progress towards understanding the role of effectors in plant-fungal interactions

Both mutualistic and biotrophic pathogenic fungi rely on living host plants for growth and reproduction and must modify host cell structure and function for successful infection. The deployment of a diverse set of secreted virulence determinants referred to as 'effectors', many of which are directly delivered into the host cell, is postulated to be the key to host infection. This review provides a snapshot of the current progress in fungal effector biology. Recent genome sequencing of rust and powdery mildew obligate biotrophs has provided insight into the repertoires of potential effectors of these highly specialised pathogens. Identification of the first host-translocated effectors from mutualistic fungi has revealed that these fungi also manipulate host cells through effectors. The biological activities of some fungal effectors are just beginning to be revealed, while much uncertainty still surrounds the mechanisms of transport into host cells.