The STRIPAK complex orchestrates cell wall integrity signalling to govern the fungal development and virulence of Fusarium graminearum |
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| Authors: | Ahai Chen Na Liu Chenghui Xu Siqi Wu Chao Liu Hao Qi Yiyi Ren Xingmin Han Kunlong Yang Xiao Liu Zhonghua Ma Yun Chen |
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| Affiliation: | 1. State Key Laboratory of Rice Biology, the Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Crop Pathogens and Insects, Institute of Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China;2. State Key Laboratory of Rice Biology, the Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Crop Pathogens and Insects, Institute of Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China College of Plant Health and Medicine, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, China;3. Department of Biomedicine and Food Science, School of Life Science, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou, China;4. State Key Laboratory of Mycology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China |
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| Abstract: | Striatin-interacting phosphatases and kinases (STRIPAKs) are evolutionarily conserved supramolecular complexes that control various important cellular processes such as signal transduction and development. However, the role of the STRIPAK complex in pathogenic fungi remains elusive. In this study, the components and function of the STRIPAK complex were investigated in Fusarium graminearum, an important plant-pathogenic fungus. The results obtained from bioinformatic analyses and the protein–protein interactome suggested that the fungal STRIPAK complex consisted of six proteins: Ham2, Ham3, Ham4, PP2Aa, Ppg1, and Mob3. Deletion mutations of individual components of the STRIPAK complex were created, and observed to cause a significant reduction in fungal vegetative growth and sexual development, and dramatically attenuae virulence, excluding the essential gene PP2Aa. Further results revealed that the STRIPAK complex interacted with the mitogen-activated protein kinase Mgv1, a key component in the cell wall integrity pathway, subsequently regulating the phosphorylation level and nuclear accumulation of Mgv1 to control the fungal stress response and virulence. Our results also suggested that the STRIPAK complex was interconnected with the target of rapamycin pathway through Tap42-PP2A cascade. Taken together, our findings revealed that the STRIPAK complex orchestrates cell wall integrity signalling to govern the fungal development and virulence of F. graminearum and highlighted the importance of the STRIPAK complex in fungal virulence. |
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| Keywords: | cell wall integrity signalling Fusarium graminearum STRIPAK complex target of rapamycin (TOR) pathway virulence |
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