Pantothenate synthetase from Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici is induced by alpha-tomatine

• Published in: Molecular genetics and genomics : MGG Vol. 265; no. 5; pp. 922 - 929
• Main Authors: Perez Espinosa, A, Roldan Arjona, T, Ruiz Rubio, M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany 01.07.2001
• Subjects: a-tomatine; Amino Acid Sequence; Antifungal Agents - pharmacology; Base Sequence; Cloning, Molecular; Fusarium - genetics; Fusarium lycopersici; Fusarium oxysporum; Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal - drug effects; Molecular Sequence Data; panC gene; Peptide Synthases - genetics; Sequence Alignment; Tomatine - pharmacology
• ISSN: 1617-4615; 1617-4623
• DOI: 10.1007/s004380100491

The steroidal glycoalkaloid alpha-tomatine which is present in tomato (Lycopersicum sculentum) is assumed to protect the plant against phytopathogenic fungi. We have isolated a gene from the fungal pathogen Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici that is induced by this glycoalkaloid. This gene, designated panC, encodes a predicted protein with a molecular mass of 41 kDa that shows a high degree of sequence similarity to pantothenate synthetases from yeast, plants and bacteria. Recombinant PanC protein from F. oxysporum has been over-expressed in Escherichia coli and purified to homogeneity. It shows pantothenate synthetase activity in the presence of D-pantoate, beta-alanine and ATP. The panC gene from F. oxysporum functionally complements an E. coli panC mutant, demonstrating that the PanC protein functions in vivo as a pantothenate synthetase. Southern analysis of F. oxysporum genomic DNA from other formae speciales indicates that there is a single copy of the pantothenate syntethase gene in this fungus. The presence of a STRE consensus sequence (CCCCT) in the promoter region of the gene suggests that the induction of panC may be part of a cellular stress response triggered by alpha-tomatine.