dbHiMo: a web-based epigenomics platform for histone-modifying enzymes

Epigenetic modulation of fungal pathogens: a focus on Magnaporthe oryzae

Epigenetics has emerged as a potent field of study for understanding the factors influencing the effectiveness of human disease treatments and for identifying alternations induced by pathogens in host plants. However, there has been a paucity of research on the epigenetic control of the proliferation and pathogenicity of fungal plant pathogens. Fungal plant pathogens such as Magnaporthe oryzae, a significant threat to global rice production, provide an important model for exploring how epigenetic mechanisms govern fungal proliferation and virulence. In M. oryzae, epigenetic alterations, such as DNA methylation, histone modification, and non-coding RNAs, regulate gene expression patterns that influence the pathogen's ability to infect its host. These modifications can enhance fungal adaptability, allowing the pathogen to survive in diverse environments and evade host immune responses. Our primary objective is to provide a comprehensive review of the existing epigenetic research on M. oryzae and shed light on how these changes influence the pathogen's lifecycle, its ability to invade host tissues, and the overall severity of the disease. We begin by examining the epigenetic alterations occurring in M. oryzae and their contributions to the virulence and proliferation of the fungus. To advance our understanding of epigenetic mechanisms in M. oryzae and similar plant diseases, we emphasize the need to address unanswered questions and explore future research directions. This information is crucial for developing new antifungal treatments that target epigenetic pathways, which could lead to improved disease management.

Sas3-mediated histone acetylation regulates effector gene activation in a fungal plant pathogen

IMPORTANCE

Pathogen infections require the production of effectors that enable host colonization. Effectors have diverse functions and are only expressed at certain stages of the infection cycle. Thus, effector genes are tightly regulated by several mechanisms, including chromatin remodeling. Here, we investigate the role of histone acetylation in effector gene activation in the fungal wheat pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici. We demonstrate that lysine acetyltransferases (KATs) are essential for the spatiotemporal regulation of effector genes. We show that the KAT Sas3 is involved in leaf symptom development and pycnidia formation. Importantly, our results indicate that Sas3 controls histone acetylation of effector loci and is a regulator of effector gene activation during stomatal penetration. Overall, our work demonstrates the key role of histone acetylation in regulating gene expression associated with plant infection.

Databases and prospects of dynamic gene regulation in eukaryotes: A mini review

In eukaryotes, dynamic regulation enables DNA polymerases to catalyze a variety of RNA products in spatial and temporal patterns. Dynamic gene expression is regulated by transcription factors (TFs) and epigenetics (DNA methylation and histone modification). The applications of biochemical technology and high-throughput sequencing enhance the understanding of mechanisms of these regulations and affected genomic regions. To provide a searchable platform for retrieving such metadata, numerous databases have been developed based on the integration of genome-wide maps (e.g., ChIP-seq, whole-genome bisulfite sequencing, RNA-seq, ATAC-seq, DNase-seq, and MNase-seq data) and functionally genomic annotation. In this mini review, we summarize the main functions of TF-related databases and outline the prevalent approaches used in inferring epigenetic regulations, their associated genes, and functions. We review the literature on crosstalk between TF and epigenetic regulation and the properties of non-coding RNA regulation, which are challenging topics that promise to pave the way for advances in database development.

Genomics and Informatics, Conjoined Tools Vital for Understanding and Protecting Plant Health

Genomics' impact on crop production continuously expands. The number of sequenced plant and microbial species and strains representing diverse populations of individual species rapidly increases thanks to the advent of next-generation sequencing technologies. Their genomic blueprints revealed candidate genes involved in various functions and processes crucial for crop health and helped in understanding how the sequenced organisms have evolved at the genome level. Functional genomics quickly translates these blueprints into a detailed mechanistic understanding of how such functions and processes work and are regulated; this understanding guides and empowers efforts to protect crops from diverse biotic and abiotic threats. Metagenome analyses help identify candidate microbes crucial for crop health and uncover how microbial communities associated with crop production respond to environmental conditions and cultural practices, presenting opportunities to enhance crop health by judiciously configuring microbial communities. Efficient conversion of disparate types of massive genomics data into actionable knowledge requires a robust informatics infrastructure supporting data preservation, analysis, and sharing. This review starts with an overview of how genomics came about and has quickly transformed life science. We illuminate how genomics and informatics can be applied to investigate various crop health-related problems using selected studies. We end the review by noting why community empowerment via crowdsourcing is crucial to harnessing genomics to protect global food and nutrition security without continuously expanding the environmental footprint of crop production.

MIAOME: Human Microbiome Affect The Host Epigenome

Besides the genetic factors having tremendous influences on the regulations of the epigenome, the microenvironmental factors have recently gained extensive attention for their roles in affecting the host epigenome. There are three major types of microenvironmental factors: microbiota-derived metabolites (MDM), microbiota-derived components (MDC) and microbiota-secreted proteins (MSP). These factors can regulate host physiology by modifying host gene expression through the three highly interconnected epigenetic mechanisms (e.g. histone modifications, DNA modifications, and non-coding RNAs). However, no database was available to provide the comprehensive factors of these types. Herein, a database entitled 'Human Microbiome Affect The Host Epigenome (MIAOME)' was constructed. Based on the types of epigenetic modifications confirmed in the literature review, the MIAOME database captures 1068 (63 genus, 281 species, 707 strains, etc.) human microbes, 91 unique microbiota-derived metabolites & components (16 fatty acids, 10 bile acids, 10 phenolic compounds, 10 vitamins, 9 tryptophan metabolites, etc.) derived from 967 microbes; 50 microbes that secreted 40 proteins; 98 microbes that directly influence the host epigenetic modification, and provides 3 classifications of the epigenome, including (1) 4 types of DNA modifications, (2) 20 histone modifications and (3) 490 ncRNAs regulations, involved in 160 human diseases. All in all, MIAOME has compiled the information on the microenvironmental factors influence host epigenome through the scientific literature and biochemical databases, and allows the collective considerations among the different types of factors. It can be freely assessed without login requirement by all users at: http://miaome.idrblab.net/ttd/

A Histone Deacetylase, Magnaporthe oryzae RPD3, Regulates Reproduction and Pathogenic Development in the Rice Blast Fungus

Acetylation and deacetylation of histones are key epigenetic mechanisms for gene regulation in response to environmental stimuli. RPD3 is a well-conserved class I histone deacetylase (HDAC) that is involved in diverse biological processes. Here, we investigated the roles of the Magnaporthe oryzaeRPD3 (MoRPD3) gene, an ortholog of Saccharomyces cerevisiaeRpd3, during development and pathogenesis in the model plant-pathogenic fungus Magnaporthe oryzae. We demonstrated that the MoRPD3 gene is able to functionally complement the yeast Rpd3 deletion mutant despite the C-terminal extension of the MoRPD3 protein. MoRPD3 localizes primarily to the nuclei of vegetative hyphae, asexual spores, and invasive hyphae. Deletion of MoRPD3 appears to be lethal. Depletion of MoRPD3 transcripts via gene silencing (MoRPD3^kd, where “kd” stands for “knockdown”) has opposing effects on asexual and sexual reproduction. Although conidial germination and appressorium formation rates of the mutants were almost comparable to those of the wild type, in-depth analysis revealed that the appressoria of mutants are smaller than those of the wild type. Furthermore, the MoRPD3^kd strain shows a significant reduction in pathogenicity, which can be attributed to the delay in appressorium-mediated penetration and impaired invasive growth. Interestingly, MoRPD3 does not regulate potassium transporters, as shown for Rpd3 of S. cerevisiae. However, it functioned in association with the target of rapamycin (TOR) kinase pathway, resulting in the dependency of appressorium formation on hydrophilic surfaces and on TOR’s inhibition by MoRPD3. Taken together, our results uncovered distinct and evolutionarily conserved roles of MoRPD3 in regulating fungal reproduction, infection-specific development, and virulence.

Bioinformatic tools for DNA methylation and histone modification: A survey

Epigenetic inheritance occurs due to different mechanisms such as chromatin and histone modifications, DNA methylation and processes mediated by non-coding RNAs. It leads to changes in gene expressions and the emergence of new traits in different organisms in many diseases such as cancer. Recent advances in experimental methods led to the identification of epigenetic target sites in various organisms. Computational approaches have enabled us to analyze mass data produced by these methods. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) methods have been broadly used to identify these target sites and their patterns. By using these patterns, the emergence of diseases could be prognosticated. In this study, target site prediction tools for two major epigenetic mechanisms comprising histone modification and DNA methylation are reviewed. Publicly accessible databases are reviewed as well. Some suggestions regarding the state-of-the-art methods and databases have been made, including examining patterns of epigenetic changes that are important in epigenotypes detection.

A Histone Deacetylase, MoHDA1 Regulates Asexual Development and Virulence in the Rice Blast Fungus

Interplay between histone acetylation and deacetylation is one of the key components in epigenetic regulation of transcription. Here we report the requirement of Mo-HDA1-mediated histone deacetylation during asexual development and pathogenesis for the rice blast fungus, Magnaporthe oryzae. Structural similarity and phylogenetic analysis suggested that MoHDA1 is an ortholog of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Hda1, which is a representative member of class II histone deacetylases. Targeted deletion of MoHDA1 caused a little decrease in radial growth and large reduction in asexual sporulation. Comparison of acetylation levels for H3K9 and H3K14 showed that lack of MoHDA1 gene led to significant increase in H3K9 and H3K14 acetylation level, compared to the wild-type and complementation strain, confirming that it is a bona fide histone deacetylase. Expression analysis on some of the key genes involved in asexual reproduction under sporulation-promoting condition showed almost no differences among strains, except for MoCON6 gene, which was up-regulated more than 6-fold in the mutant than wild-type. Although the deletion mutant displayed little defects in germination and subsequent appressorium formation, the mutant was compromised in its ability to cause disease. Woundinoculation showed that the mutant is impaired in invasive growth as well. We found that the mutant was defective in appressorium-mediated penetration of host, but did not lose the ability to grow on the media containing H2O2. Taken together, our data suggest that MoHDA1-dependent histone deacetylation is important for efficient asexual development and infection of host plants in M. oryzae.

Mass Spectrometry to Study Chromatin Compaction

Chromatin accessibility is a major regulator of gene expression. Histone writers/erasers have a critical role in chromatin compaction, as they “flag” chromatin regions by catalyzing/removing covalent post-translational modifications on histone proteins. Anomalous chromatin decondensation is a common phenomenon in cells experiencing aging and viral infection. Moreover, about 50% of cancers have mutations in enzymes regulating chromatin state. Numerous genomics methods have evolved to characterize chromatin state, but the analysis of (in)accessible chromatin from the protein perspective is not yet in the spotlight. We present an overview of the most used approaches to generate data on chromatin accessibility and then focus on emerging methods that utilize mass spectrometry to quantify the accessibility of histones and the rest of the chromatin bound proteome. Mass spectrometry is currently the method of choice to quantify entire proteomes in an unbiased large-scale manner; accessibility on chromatin of proteins and protein modifications adds an extra quantitative layer to proteomics dataset that assist more informed data-driven hypotheses in chromatin biology. We speculate that this emerging new set of methods will enhance predictive strength on which proteins and histone modifications are critical in gene regulation, and which proteins occupy different chromatin states in health and disease.

A MYST family histone acetyltransferase, MoSAS3, is required for development and pathogenicity in the rice blast fungus

Histone acetylation has been established as a principal epigenetic regulatory mechanism in eukaryotes. Sas3, a histone acetyltransferase belonging to the largest family of acetyltransferase, MYST, is the catalytic subunit of a conserved histone acetyltransferase complex. To date, the functions of Sas3 and its orthologues have been extensively studied in yeast, humans and flies in relation to global acetylation and transcriptional regulation. However, its precise impact on development and pathogenicity in fungal plant pathogens has yet to be elucidated. Considering the importance of Sas3 in H3K14 acetylation, here we investigate the roles of its orthologue in the rice blast fungus, Magnaporthe oryzae (Pyricularia oryzae). Unlike a previously reported Sas3 deletion in yeast, which led to no remarkable phenotypic changes, we found that MoSAS3 deletion alone had a profound effect on fungal growth and development, including asexual reproduction, germination and appressorium formation in M. oryzae. Such defects in pre-penetration development resulted in complete loss of pathogenicity in the deletion mutant. Furthermore, genetic analysis of MoSAS3 and MoGCN5 encoding a Gcn5-related N-acetyltransferase family histone acetyltransferase suggested that two conserved components of histone acetylation are integrated differently into epigenetic regulatory mechanisms in the yeast and a filamentous fungus. RNA-seq analysis of ΔMosas3 showed two general trends: many DNA repair and DNA damage response genes are up-regulated, while carbon and nitrogen metabolism genes are down-regulated in ΔMosas3. Our work demonstrates the importance of MYST family histone acetyltransferase as a developmental regulator and illuminates a degree of functional variation in conserved catalytic subunits among different fungal species.

Role of the Histone Acetyltransferase Rtt109 in Development and Pathogenicity of the Rice Blast Fungus

Acetylation of histone H3 lysine 56 (H3K56) by the fungal-specific histone acetyltransferase Rtt109 plays important roles in maintaining genome integrity and surviving DNA damage. Here, we investigated the implications of Rtt109-mediated response to DNA damage on development and pathogenesis of the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae (anamorph: Pyricularia oryzae). The ortholog of Rtt109 in M. oryzae (MoRtt109) was found via sequence homology and its functionality was confirmed by phenotypic complementation of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Rtt109 deletion strain. Targeted deletion of MoRtt109 resulted in a significant reduction in acetylation of H3K56 and rendered the fungus defective in hyphal growth and asexual reproduction. Furthermore, the deletion mutant displayed hypersensitivity to genotoxic agents, confirming the conserved importance of Rtt109 in genome integrity maintenance and genotoxic stress tolerance. Elevated expression of DNA repair genes and the results of the comet assay were consistent with constitutive endogenous DNA damage. Although the conidia produced from the mutant were not impaired in germination and appressorium morphogenesis, the mutant was significantly less pathogenic on rice leaves. Transcriptomic analysis provided insight into the factors underlying phenotypic defects that are associated with deficiency of H3K56 acetylation. Overall, our results indicate that MoRtt109 is a conserved histone acetyltransferase that affects proliferation and asexual fecundity of M. oryzae through maintenance of genome integrity and response to DNA damage.

Epigenetic regulation of development and pathogenesis in fungal plant pathogens

Evidently, epigenetics is at forefront in explaining the mechanisms underlying the success of human pathogens and in the identification of pathogen-induced modifications within host plants. However, there is a lack of studies highlighting the role of epigenetics in the modulation of the growth and pathogenicity of fungal plant pathogens. In this review, we attempt to highlight and discuss the role of epigenetics in the regulation of the growth and pathogenicity of fungal phytopathogens using Magnaporthe oryzae, a devastating fungal plant pathogen, as a model system. With the perspective of wide application in the understanding of the development, pathogenesis and control of other fungal pathogens, we attempt to provide a synthesized view of the epigenetic studies conducted on M. oryzae to date. First, we discuss the mechanisms of epigenetic modifications in M. oryzae and their impact on fungal development and pathogenicity. Second, we highlight the unexplored epigenetic mechanisms and areas of research that should be considered in the near future to construct a holistic view of epigenetic functioning in M. oryzae and other fungal plant pathogens. Importantly, the development of a complete understanding of the modulation of epigenetic regulation in fungal pathogens can help in the identification of target points to combat fungal pathogenesis.

WERAM: a database of writers, erasers and readers of histone acetylation and methylation in eukaryotes

In this work, we developed a database WERAM (http://weram.biocuckoo.org/) for histone acetyltransferases, histone deacetylases, histone methyltransferases, histone demethylases and acetyl- or methyl-binding proteins, which catalyze, remove and recognize histone acetylation and methylation sites as 'writers', 'erasers' and 'readers', and synergistically determine the 'histone code'. From the scientific literature, we totally collected over 580 experimentally identified histone regulators from eight model organisms, including Homo sapiens, Mus musculus, Rattus norvegicus, Drosophila melanogaster, Caenorhabditis elegans, Arabidopsis thaliana, Schizosaccharomyces pombe and Saccharomyces cerevisiae We also collected ∼900 site-specific regulator-histone relations from the eight species. According to the experimental evidence, known histone regulators were classified into distinct families. To computationally detect more proteins in eukaryotes, we constructed hidden Markov model (HMM) profiles for histone regulator families. For families without HMM profiles, we also conducted orthologous searches. Totally, WERAM database contained more than 20 thousand non-redundant histone regulators from 148 eukaryotes. The detailed annotations and classification information of histone regulators were provided, together with site-specific histone substrates if available.