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Mesarich CH, Barnes I, Bradley EL, de la Rosa S, de Wit PJGM, Guo Y, Griffiths SA, Hamelin RC, Joosten MHAJ, Lu M, McCarthy HM, Schol CR, Stergiopoulos I, Tarallo M, Zaccaron AZ, Bradshaw RE. Beyond the genomes of Fulvia fulva (syn. Cladosporium fulvum) and Dothistroma septosporum: New insights into how these fungal pathogens interact with their host plants. Mol Plant Pathol 2023; 24:474-494. [PMID: 36790136 PMCID: PMC10098069 DOI: 10.1111/mpp.13309] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2022] [Revised: 01/23/2023] [Accepted: 01/25/2023] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
Fulvia fulva and Dothistroma septosporum are closely related apoplastic pathogens with similar lifestyles but different hosts: F. fulva is a pathogen of tomato, whilst D. septosporum is a pathogen of pine trees. In 2012, the first genome sequences of these pathogens were published, with F. fulva and D. septosporum having highly fragmented and near-complete assemblies, respectively. Since then, significant advances have been made in unravelling their genome architectures. For instance, the genome of F. fulva has now been assembled into 14 chromosomes, 13 of which have synteny with the 14 chromosomes of D. septosporum, suggesting these pathogens are even more closely related than originally thought. Considerable advances have also been made in the identification and functional characterization of virulence factors (e.g., effector proteins and secondary metabolites) from these pathogens, thereby providing new insights into how they promote host colonization or activate plant defence responses. For example, it has now been established that effector proteins from both F. fulva and D. septosporum interact with cell-surface immune receptors and co-receptors to activate the plant immune system. Progress has also been made in understanding how F. fulva and D. septosporum have evolved with their host plants, whilst intensive research into pandemics of Dothistroma needle blight in the Northern Hemisphere has shed light on the origins, migration, and genetic diversity of the global D. septosporum population. In this review, we specifically summarize advances made in our understanding of the F. fulva-tomato and D. septosporum-pine pathosystems over the last 10 years.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carl H. Mesarich
- Laboratory of Molecular Plant Pathology, School of Agriculture and EnvironmentMassey UniversityPalmerston NorthNew Zealand
- Bioprotection AotearoaMassey UniversityPalmerston NorthNew Zealand
| | - Irene Barnes
- Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology, Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology InstituteUniversity of PretoriaPretoriaSouth Africa
| | - Ellie L. Bradley
- Laboratory of Molecular Plant Pathology, School of Agriculture and EnvironmentMassey UniversityPalmerston NorthNew Zealand
| | - Silvia de la Rosa
- Laboratory of Molecular Plant Pathology, School of Agriculture and EnvironmentMassey UniversityPalmerston NorthNew Zealand
| | | | - Yanan Guo
- Bioprotection AotearoaMassey UniversityPalmerston NorthNew Zealand
- Laboratory of Molecular Plant Pathology, School of Natural SciencesMassey UniversityPalmerston NorthNew Zealand
| | | | - Richard C. Hamelin
- Department of Forest and Conservation SciencesUniversity of British ColumbiaVancouverBritish ColumbiaCanada
- Institut de Biologie Intégrative et des SystèmesUniversité LavalQuébec CityQuébecCanada
| | | | - Mengmeng Lu
- Department of Biological SciencesUniversity of CalgaryCalgaryAlbertaCanada
| | - Hannah M. McCarthy
- Laboratory of Molecular Plant Pathology, School of Natural SciencesMassey UniversityPalmerston NorthNew Zealand
| | - Christiaan R. Schol
- Laboratory of PhytopathologyWageningen UniversityWageningenNetherlands
- Plant BreedingWageningen University & ResearchWageningenNetherlands
| | | | - Mariana Tarallo
- Laboratory of Molecular Plant Pathology, School of Natural SciencesMassey UniversityPalmerston NorthNew Zealand
| | - Alex Z. Zaccaron
- Department of Plant PathologyUniversity of California DavisDavisCaliforniaUSA
| | - Rosie E. Bradshaw
- Bioprotection AotearoaMassey UniversityPalmerston NorthNew Zealand
- Laboratory of Molecular Plant Pathology, School of Natural SciencesMassey UniversityPalmerston NorthNew Zealand
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Rocafort M, Bowen JK, Hassing B, Cox MP, McGreal B, de la Rosa S, Plummer KM, Bradshaw RE, Mesarich CH. The Venturia inaequalis effector repertoire is dominated by expanded families with predicted structural similarity, but unrelated sequence, to avirulence proteins from other plant-pathogenic fungi. BMC Biol 2022; 20:246. [PMID: 36329441 PMCID: PMC9632046 DOI: 10.1186/s12915-022-01442-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2022] [Accepted: 10/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Scab, caused by the biotrophic fungus Venturia inaequalis, is the most economically important disease of apples worldwide. During infection, V. inaequalis occupies the subcuticular environment, where it secretes virulence factors, termed effectors, to promote host colonization. Consistent with other plant-pathogenic fungi, many of these effectors are expected to be non-enzymatic proteins, some of which can be recognized by corresponding host resistance proteins to activate plant defences, thus acting as avirulence determinants. To develop durable control strategies against scab, a better understanding of the roles that these effector proteins play in promoting subcuticular growth by V. inaequalis, as well as in activating, suppressing, or circumventing resistance protein-mediated defences in apple, is required. Results We generated the first comprehensive RNA-seq transcriptome of V. inaequalis during colonization of apple. Analysis of this transcriptome revealed five temporal waves of gene expression that peaked during early, mid, or mid-late infection. While the number of genes encoding secreted, non-enzymatic proteinaceous effector candidates (ECs) varied in each wave, most belonged to waves that peaked in expression during mid-late infection. Spectral clustering based on sequence similarity determined that the majority of ECs belonged to expanded protein families. To gain insights into function, the tertiary structures of ECs were predicted using AlphaFold2. Strikingly, despite an absence of sequence similarity, many ECs were predicted to have structural similarity to avirulence proteins from other plant-pathogenic fungi, including members of the MAX, LARS, ToxA and FOLD effector families. In addition, several other ECs, including an EC family with sequence similarity to the AvrLm6 avirulence effector from Leptosphaeria maculans, were predicted to adopt a KP6-like fold. Thus, proteins with a KP6-like fold represent another structural family of effectors shared among plant-pathogenic fungi. Conclusions Our study reveals the transcriptomic profile underpinning subcuticular growth by V. inaequalis and provides an enriched list of ECs that can be investigated for roles in virulence and avirulence. Furthermore, our study supports the idea that numerous sequence-unrelated effectors across plant-pathogenic fungi share common structural folds. In doing so, our study gives weight to the hypothesis that many fungal effectors evolved from ancestral genes through duplication, followed by sequence diversification, to produce sequence-unrelated but structurally similar proteins. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12915-022-01442-9.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mercedes Rocafort
- Laboratory of Molecular Plant Pathology/Bioprotection Aotearoa, School of Agriculture and Environment, Massey University, Private Bag 11222, Palmerston North, 4442, New Zealand
| | - Joanna K Bowen
- The New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research Limited, Mount Albert Research Centre, Auckland, 1025, New Zealand
| | - Berit Hassing
- Laboratory of Molecular Plant Pathology/Bioprotection Aotearoa, School of Agriculture and Environment, Massey University, Private Bag 11222, Palmerston North, 4442, New Zealand
| | - Murray P Cox
- Bioprotection Aotearoa, School of Natural Sciences, Massey University, Private Bag 11222, Palmerston North, 4442, New Zealand
| | - Brogan McGreal
- The New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research Limited, Mount Albert Research Centre, Auckland, 1025, New Zealand
| | - Silvia de la Rosa
- Laboratory of Molecular Plant Pathology/Bioprotection Aotearoa, School of Agriculture and Environment, Massey University, Private Bag 11222, Palmerston North, 4442, New Zealand
| | - Kim M Plummer
- Department of Animal, Plant and Soil Sciences, La Trobe University, AgriBio, Centre for AgriBiosciences, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, 3086, Australia
| | - Rosie E Bradshaw
- Bioprotection Aotearoa, School of Natural Sciences, Massey University, Private Bag 11222, Palmerston North, 4442, New Zealand
| | - Carl H Mesarich
- Laboratory of Molecular Plant Pathology/Bioprotection Aotearoa, School of Agriculture and Environment, Massey University, Private Bag 11222, Palmerston North, 4442, New Zealand.
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