Systematic Analysis of Lysine Lactylation in the Plant Fungal Pathogen Botrytis cinerea

AbstractBotrytis cinerea is a polyphagous fungal pathogen that causes necrotic disease on more than a thousand known hosts widely spread across the plant kingdom. While it is known that quantitative resistance in the host and quantitative virulence in the pathogen largely mediate this pathosystem, how this pathogen interacts with the extensive host diversity is unknown. Does this pathogen have quantitative virulence efficiency on all hosts or individual solutions for each host? To address this question, we generated an infectivity matrix of 98 strains of Botrytis cinerea on 90 genotypes representing eight host plants. This experimental infectivity matrix showed that the predominant sources of quantitative variation are between host species and among pathogen strains. Furthermore, the eight eudicot hosts interacted individually with Botrytis cinerea strains independently of the evolutionary relatedness between hosts. An additive quantitative model can explain the complexity of these interactions in which Botrytis host specificity and general virulence have distinct polygenic architectures.

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Multiple knockout mutants reveal a high redundancy of phytotoxic compounds that determine necrotrophic pathogenesis of Botrytis cinerea

10.1101/2021.08.21.457223 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Thomas Leisen ◽

Janina Werner ◽

Patrick Pattar ◽

Edita Ymeri ◽

Frederik Sommer ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cell Death ◽

Botrytis Cinerea ◽

Plant Cell ◽

Fungal Pathogen ◽

Host Plants ◽

Host Cells ◽

Necrotic Tissue ◽

Knockout Mutants ◽

Marker Free ◽

First Time

Botrytis cinerea is a major pathogen of more than 1400 plant species. During infection, the kills host cells during infection and spreads through necrotic tissue, which is believed to be supported by induction of programmed plant cell death. To comprehensively evaluate the contributions of most of the currently known plant cell death inducing proteins (CDIPs) and metabolites for necrotrophic infection, an optimized CRISPR/Cas protocol was established which allowed serial marker-free mutagenesis to generate Botrytis mutants lacking up to 12 different CDIPs. Infection analysis revealed a decrease in virulence with increasing numbers of knockouts, and differences in the effects of knockouts on different host plants. The on planta secretomes obtained from these mutants revealed substantial remaining necrotic activity after infiltration into leaves. Our study has addressed for the first time the functional redundancy of virulence factors of a fungal pathogen, and demonstrates that B. cinerea releases a highly redundant cocktail of proteins and metabolites to achieve necrotrophic infection of a wide variety of host plants.

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Resistance of Pelargonium Species to the Fungal Pathogen Botrytis cinerea

HortScience ◽

10.21273/hortsci.31.4.565d ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 31 (4) ◽

pp. 565d-565

Author(s):

Michael S. Uchneat ◽

Richard Craig

Keyword(s):

Botrytis Cinerea ◽

Fungal Pathogen ◽

Symptom Expression ◽

Mechanisms Of Resistance ◽

Enhanced Resistance ◽

Resistant Accession ◽

Foliar Resistance ◽

Plant Pathogen Interaction ◽

Susceptible Control ◽

Ultimate Objective

Botrytis cinerea is an economically important fungal pathogen of Pelargonium species. We are currently studying this plant–pathogen interaction to identify mechanisms of host resistance. Our ultimate objective is to develop commercial Pelargonium genotypes with enhanced resistance to this pathogen. Though all stages of production may be affected by this pathogen, we are investigating foliar and floral resistance of mature plants. Through simple assays, over 200 genotypes have been evaluated for foliar resistance, and more than 100 genotypes have been evaluated for floral resistance. Resistant and susceptible control genotypes have been identified for diploid and tetraploid P. ×hortorum and P. peltatum; these genotypes are being investigated to elucidate mechanisms of resistance. The diploid ivy accession 86-23-1 and the tetraploid zonal geranium `Fox' have the greatest foliar resistance among the genotypes evaluated. The diploid P. ×hortorum `Ben Franklin' has the greatest floral resistance among the evaluated genotypes. Foliar and floral resistance appear to be inherited as separate traits. Foliar resistance is manifested as a two day delay in symptom expression when compared to susceptible genotypes. Foliar resistant accession 86-23-1 has a cuticle with 150% the mass of other Pelargonium genotypes. This difference may be responsible for the observed resistance. Cuticle mass does not appear to be important in floral resistance.

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Population genomics reveals molecular determinants of specialization to tomato in the polyphagous fungal pathogen Botrytis cinerea in France

Phytopathology ◽

10.1094/phyto-07-20-0302-fi ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Alex Mercier ◽

Adeline Simon ◽

Nicolas Lapalu ◽

Tatiana Giraud ◽

Marc Bardin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Botrytis Cinerea ◽

Fungal Pathogen ◽

Plant Pathogens ◽

Population Genomics ◽

Grey Mould ◽

Host Specialization ◽

Genomic Changes ◽

Fungal Plant Pathogens ◽

Synonymous Sites ◽

Pathogen Populations

Many fungal plant pathogens encompass multiple populations specialized on different plant species. Understanding the factors underlying pathogen adaptation to their hosts is a major challenge of evolutionary microbiology, and it should help preventing the emergence of new specialized pathogens on novel hosts. Previous studies have shown that French populations of the grey mould pathogen Botrytis cinerea parasitizing tomato and grapevine are differentiated from each other, and have higher aggressiveness on their host-of-origin than on other hosts, indicating some degree of host specialization in this polyphagous pathogen. Here, we aimed at identifying the genomic features underlying the specialization of B. cinerea populations to tomato and grapevine. Based on whole genome sequences of 32 isolates, we confirmed the subdivision of B. cinerea pathogens into two genetic clusters on grapevine and another, single cluster on tomato. Levels of genetic variation in the different clusters were similar, suggesting that the tomato-specific cluster has not recently emerged following a bottleneck. Using genome scans for selective sweeps and divergent selection, tests of positive selection based on polymorphism and divergence at synonymous and non-synonymous sites and analyses of presence/absence variation, we identified several candidate genes that represent possible determinants of host specialization in the tomato-associated population. This work deepens our understanding of the genomic changes underlying the specialization of fungal pathogen populations.

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