Hex1, the major component of Woronin bodies, is required for normal development, pathogenicity, and stress response in the plant pathogenic fungus Verticillium dahliae

• Verfasst von: Vangalis, Vasileios [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Papaioannou, Ioannis A. [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Markakis, Emmanouil A. [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Knop, Michael [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Typas, Milton A. [VerfasserIn]
• Titel: Hex1, the major component of Woronin bodies, is required for normal development, pathogenicity, and stress response in the plant pathogenic fungus Verticillium dahliae
• Verf.angabe: Vasileios Vangalis, Ioannis A. Papaioannou, Emmanouil A. Markakis, Michael Knop and Milton A. Typas
• E-Jahr: 2020
• Jahr: 7 December 2020
• Fussnoten: Gesehen am 09.02.2022
• Titel Quelle: Enthalten in: Journal of Fungi
• Ort Quelle: Basel : MDPI, 2014
• Jahr Quelle: 2020
• Band/Heft Quelle: 6(2020), 4, Artikel-ID 344, Seite 1-23$i23
• ISSN Quelle: 2309-608X
• DOI: doi:10.3390/jof6040344
• Datenträger: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: eng
• Sach-SW: heterokaryon incompatibility
• Sach-SW: hyphal integrity
• Sach-SW: ROS
• Sach-SW: septal pore
• Sach-SW: virulence
• K10plus-PPN: 1788864581

Abstract

Woronin bodies are membrane-bound organelles of filamentous ascomycetes that mediate hyphal compartmentalization by plugging septal pores upon hyphal damage. Their major component is the peroxisomal protein Hex1, which has also been implicated in additional cellular processes in fungi. Here, we analyzed the Hex1 homolog of Verticillium dahliae, an important asexual plant pathogen, and we report its pleiotropic involvement in fungal growth, physiology, stress response, and pathogenicity. Alternative splicing of the Vdhex1 gene can lead to the production of two Hex1 isoforms, which are structurally similar to their Neurospora crassa homolog. We show that VdHex1 is targeted to the septum, consistently with its demonstrated function in sealing hyphal compartments to prevent excessive cytoplasmic bleeding upon injury. Furthermore, our investigation provides direct evidence for significant contributions of Hex1 in growth and morphogenesis, as well as in asexual reproduction capacity. We discovered that Hex1 is required both for normal responses to osmotic stress and factors that affect the cell wall and plasma-membrane integrity, and for normal resistance to oxidative stress and reactive oxygen species (ROS) homeostasis. The Vdhex1 mutant exhibited diminished ability to colonize and cause disease on eggplant. Overall, we show that Hex1 has fundamentally important multifaceted roles in the biology of V. dahliae.