Involvement of a Velvet Protein FgVeA in the Regulation of Asexual Development, Lipid and Secondary Metabolisms and Virulence in Fusarium graminearum

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 6; no. 11; p. e28291
• Main Authors: Jiang, Jinhua, Liu, Xin, Yin, Yanni, Ma, Zhonghua
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 29.11.2011; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Amino acids; Analysis; Biology; Biosynthesis; Biotechnology; Blight; Cell Wall - drug effects; Cell walls; Chromatography; Clonal deletion; Colony Count, Microbial; Conidia; Crop diseases; Deletion mutant; Deoxynivalenol; Drug Resistance, Fungal - drug effects; Flowering; Fludioxonil; Fungal Proteins - genetics; Fungal Proteins - metabolism; Fungi; Fungicides; Fungicides, Industrial - pharmacology; Fusarium; Fusarium - genetics; Fusarium - growth & development; Fusarium - metabolism; Fusarium - pathogenicity; Fusarium graminearum; Fusarium head blight; Gene Deletion; Gene expression; Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal - drug effects; Genomes; Genomics; Germination; Glycerol; Glycerol - metabolism; Hydrophobicity; Hyphae; Hyphae - drug effects; Hyphae - growth & development; Hyphae - metabolism; Hyphae - ultrastructure; Iprodione; Kinases; Laboratories; Lipid Metabolism - drug effects; Mass spectrometry; Metabolism; Metabolites; Methyltransferases - chemistry; Methyltransferases - metabolism; Molecular biology; Mutagenesis; Osmosis - drug effects; Osmotic stress; Pathogenesis; Pathogens; Pigmentation - drug effects; Protein Binding - drug effects; Protein Structure, Tertiary; Proteins; Reproduction, Asexual - drug effects; Scientific imaging; Sensitivity; Sensitivity analysis; Sequence Analysis, Protein; Serial analysis of gene expression; Spores, Fungal - drug effects; Spores, Fungal - growth & development; Spores, Fungal - ultrastructure; Stress, Physiological - drug effects; Studies; Trichothecenes - biosynthesis; Virulence; Virulence - drug effects; Wheat; Yeast
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0028291
• ISSN: 1932-6203

The velvet protein, VeA, is involved in the regulation of diverse cellular processes. In this study, we explored functions of FgVeA in the wheat head blight pathogen, Fusarium graminearum,using a gene replacement strategy. The FgVEA deletion mutant exhibited a reduction in aerial hyphae formation, hydrophobicity, and deoxynivalenol (DON) biosynthesis. Deletion of FgVEA gene led to an increase in conidial production, but a delay in conidial germination. Pathogencity assays showed that the mutant was impaired in virulence on flowering wheat head. Sensitivity tests to various stresses exhibited that the FgVEA deletion mutant showed increased resistance to osmotic stress and cell wall-damaging agents, but increased sensitivity to iprodione and fludioxonil fungicides. Ultrastructural and histochemical analyses revealed that conidia of FgVeA deletion mutant contained an unusually high number of large lipid droplets, which is in agreement with the observation that the mutant accumulated a higher basal level of glycerol than the wild-type progenitor. Serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE) in the FgVEA mutant confirmed that FgVeA was involved in various cellular processes. Additionally, six proteins interacting with FgVeA were identified by yeast two hybrid assays in current study. These results indicate that FgVeA plays a critical role in a variety of cellular processes in F. graminearum.