scholarly journals The Small GTPase FgRab1 Plays Indispensable Roles in the Vegetative Growth, Vesicle Fusion, Autophagy and Pathogenicity of Fusarium graminearum

2022 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 895
Author(s):  
Yanping Yuan ◽  
Meiru Zhang ◽  
Jingjing Li ◽  
Chengdong Yang ◽  
Yakubu Saddeeq Abubakar ◽  
...  

Rab GTPases are key regulators of membrane and intracellular vesicle transports. However, the biological functions of FgRab1 are still unclear in the devastating wheat pathogen Fusarium graminearum. In this study, we generated constitutively active (CA) and dominant-negative (DN) forms of FgRAB1 from the wild-type PH-1 background for functional analyses. Phenotypic analyses of these mutants showed that FgRab1 is important for vegetative growth, cell wall integrity and hyphal branching. Compared to the PH-1 strain, the number of spores produced by the Fgrab1DN strain was significantly reduced, with obviously abnormal conidial morphology. The number of septa in the conidia of the Fgrab1DN mutant was fewer than that observed in the PH-1 conidia. Fgrab1DN was dramatically reduced in its ability to cause Fusarium head blight symptoms on wheat heads. GFP-FgRab1 was observed to partly localize to the Golgi apparatus, endoplasmic reticulum and Spitzenkörper. Furthermore, we found that FgRab1 inactivation blocks not only the transport of the v-SNARE protein FgSnc1 from the Golgi to the plasma membrane but also the fusion of endocytic vesicles with their target membranes and general autophagy. In summary, our results indicate that FgRab1 plays vital roles in vegetative growth, conidiogenesis, pathogenicity, autophagy, vesicle fusion and trafficking in F. graminearum.

2020 ◽  
Vol 86 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuefa Chong ◽  
Chenyu Wang ◽  
Yao Wang ◽  
Yixiao Wang ◽  
Liyuan Zhang ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Fusarium graminearum, the main pathogenic fungus causing Fusarium head blight (FHB), produces deoxynivalenol (DON), a key virulence factor, which is synthesized in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Sey1/atlastin, a dynamin-like GTPase protein, is known to be required for homotypic fusion of ER membranes, but the functions of this protein are unknown in pathogenic fungi. Here, we characterized Sey1/atlastin homologue FgSey1 in F. graminearum. Like Sey1/atlastin, FgSey1 is located in the ER. The FgSEY1 deletion mutant exhibited significantly reduced vegetative growth, asexual development, DON biosynthesis, and virulence. Moreover, the ΔFgsey1 mutant was impaired in the formation of normal lipid droplets (LDs) and toxisomes, both of which participate in DON biosynthesis. The GTPase, helix bundle (HB), transmembrane segment (TM), and cytosolic tail (CT) domains of FgSey1 are essential for its function, but only the TM domain is responsible for its localization. Furthermore, the mutants FgSey1K63A and FgSey1T87A lacked GTPase activity and failed to rescue the defects of the ΔFgsey1 mutant. Collectively, our data suggest that the dynamin-like GTPase protein FgSey1 affects the generation of LDs and toxisomes and is required for DON biosynthesis and pathogenesis in F. graminearum. IMPORTANCE Fusarium graminearum is a major plant pathogen that causes Fusarium head blight (FHB) of wheats worldwide. In addition to reducing the plant yield, F. graminearum infection of wheats also results in the production of deoxynivalenol (DON) mycotoxins, which are harmful to humans and animals and therefore cause great economic losses through pollution of food products and animal feed. At present, effective strategies for controlling FHB are not available. Therefore, understanding the regulation mechanisms of fungal development, pathogenesis, and DON biosynthesis is important for the development of effective control strategies of this disease. In this study, we demonstrated that a dynamin-like GTPase protein Sey1/atlastin homologue, FgSey1, is required for vegetative growth, DON production, and pathogenicity in F. graminearum. Our results provide novel information on critical roles of FgSey1 in fungal pathogenicity; therefore, FgSey1 could be a potential target for effective control of the disease caused by F. graminearum.


1999 ◽  
Vol 112 (15) ◽  
pp. 2549-2557 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Aballay ◽  
P.D. Stahl ◽  
L.S. Mayorga

Previous studies indicate that a zinc- and phorbol ester-binding factor is necessary for in vitro endosome fusion and for the effect of Rab5 on endosome fusion. Rab5 is a small GTPase that regulates membrane fusion between early endosomes derived from either receptor-mediated endocytosis or fluid-phase endocytosis. In its GTP-bound form, Rab5 promotes endocytosis and enhances fusion among early endosomes. To determine if PMA stimulates endocytosis by activating a factor required for endosome fusion, we overexpressed wild-type Rab5, a dominant negative mutant (Rab5:S34N), and a GTPase deficient mutant (Rab5:Q79L) in BHK-21 cells. The phorbol ester PMA stimulates endocytosis and increases the number and the size of endocytic vesicles, even in the presence of Rab5:S34N. Zinc depletion with N,N,N',N'-tetrakis-(2-pyridylmethyl)ethylenediamine (TPEN) and addition of calphostin C (CPC), an inhibitor of PKC that interacts with zinc and phorbol ester binding motifs, inhibited both basal and Rab5-stimulated fluid phase endocytosis. These two reagents also inhibited the size and number of endocytic vesicles promoted by Rab5. These results suggest that PMA stimulates endocytosis by regulating the dynamics of the early endosome compartment.


1999 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 3239-3250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcel Spaargaren ◽  
Johannes L. Bos

Rab5 is a regulatory GTPase of vesicle docking and fusion that is involved in receptor-mediated endocytosis and pinocytosis. Introduction of active Rab5 in cells stimulates the rate of endocytosis and vesicle fusion, resulting in the formation of large endocytic vesicles, whereas dominant negative Rab5 inhibits vesicle fusion. Here we show that introduction of active Rab5 in fibroblasts also induced reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton but not of microtubule filaments, resulting in prominent lamellipodia formation. The Rab5-induced lamellipodia formation did not require activation of PI3-K or the GTPases Ras, Rac, Cdc42, or Rho, which are all strongly implicated in cytoskeletal reorganization. Furthermore, lamellipodia formation by insulin, Ras, or Rac was not affected by expression of dominant negative Rab5. In addition, cells expressing active Rab5 displayed a dramatic stimulation of cell migration, with the lamellipodia serving as the leading edge. Both lamellipodia formation and cell migration were dependent on actin polymerization but not on microtubules. These results demonstrate that Rab5 induces lamellipodia formation and cell migration and that the Rab5-induced lamellipodia formation occurs by a novel mechanism independent of, and distinct from, PI3-K, Ras, or Rho-family GTPases. Thus, Rab5 can control not only endocytosis but also actin cytoskeleton reorganization and cell migration, which provides strong support for an intricate relationship between these processes.


Plants ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 68
Author(s):  
Gaetano Bentivenga ◽  
Alfio Spina ◽  
Karim Ammar ◽  
Maria Allegra ◽  
Santa Olga Cacciola

In 2009, a set of 35 cultivars of durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L. subsp. durum (Desf.) Husn.) of Italian origin was screened for fusarium head blight (FHB) susceptibility at CIMMYT (Mexico) and in the 2019–20 cropping season, 16 of these cultivars, which had been included in the Italian National Plant Variety Register, were tested again in southern and northern Italy. Wheat cultivars were artificially inoculated during anthesis with a conidial suspension of Fusarium graminearum sensu lato using a standard spray inoculation method. Inoculum was a mixture of mono-conidial isolates sourced in the same areas where the trials were performed. Isolates had been characterized on the basis of morphological characteristics and by DNA PCR amplification using a specific primer set and then selected for their virulence and ability to produce mycotoxins. The susceptibility to FHB was rated on the basis of the disease severity, disease incidence and FHB index. Almost all of the tested cultivars were susceptible or very susceptible to FHB with the only exception of “Duprì”, “Tiziana” and “Dylan” which proved to be moderately susceptible. The susceptibility to FHB was inversely correlated with the plant height and flowering biology, the tall and the late heading cultivars being less susceptible.


2008 ◽  
Vol 88 (6) ◽  
pp. 1087-1089 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen N Wegulo ◽  
Floyd E Dowell

Fusarium head blight (scab) of wheat, caused by Fusarium graminearum, often results in shriveled and/or discolored kernels, which are referred to as Fusarium-damaged kernels (FDK). FDK is a major grain grading factor and therefore is routinely determined for purposes of quality assurance. Measurement of FDK is usually done visually. Visual sorting can be laborious and is subject to inconsistencies resulting from variability in intra-rater repeatability and/or inter-rater reliability. The ability of a single-kernel near-infrared (SKNIR) system to detect FDK was evaluated by comparing FDK sorted by the system to FDK sorted visually. Visual sorting was strongly correlated with sorting by the SKNIR system (0.89 ≤ r ≤ 0.91); however, the SKNIR system had a wider range of FDK detection and was more consistent. Compared with the SKNIR system, visual raters overestimated FDK in samples with a low percentage of Fusarium-damaged grain and underestimated FDK in samples with a high percentage of Fusarium-damaged grain. Key words: Wheat, Fusarium head blight, Fusarium-damaged kernels, single-kernel near-infrared


2015 ◽  
Vol 83 ◽  
pp. 92-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinjin Wu ◽  
Yuting Liu ◽  
Wuyun Lv ◽  
Xiaofeng Yue ◽  
Yawei Que ◽  
...  

2007 ◽  
Vol 176 (3) ◽  
pp. 263-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam C. Smith ◽  
Won Do Heo ◽  
Virginie Braun ◽  
Xiuju Jiang ◽  
Chloe Macrae ◽  
...  

Members of the Rab guanosine triphosphatase (GTPase) family are key regulators of membrane traffic. Here we examined the association of 48 Rabs with model phagosomes containing a non-invasive mutant of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium). This mutant traffics to lysosomes and allowed us to determine which Rabs localize to a maturing phagosome. In total, 18 Rabs associated with maturing phagosomes, each with its own kinetics of association. Dominant-negative mutants of Rab23 and 35 inhibited phagosome–lysosome fusion. A large number of Rab GTPases localized to wild-type Salmonella-containing vacuoles (SCVs), which do not fuse with lysosomes. However, some Rabs (8B, 13, 23, 32, and 35) were excluded from wild-type SCVs whereas others (5A, 5B, 5C, 7A, 11A, and 11B) were enriched on this compartment. Our studies demonstrate that a complex network of Rab GTPases controls endocytic progression to lysosomes and that this is modulated by S. Typhimurium to allow its intracellular growth.


2012 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johann Leplat ◽  
Hanna Friberg ◽  
Muhammad Abid ◽  
Christian Steinberg

2002 ◽  
Vol 157 (5) ◽  
pp. 819-830 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takahiro Tsuji ◽  
Toshimasa Ishizaki ◽  
Muneo Okamoto ◽  
Chiharu Higashida ◽  
Kazuhiro Kimura ◽  
...  

The small GTPase Rho acts on two effectors, ROCK and mDia1, and induces stress fibers and focal adhesions. However, how ROCK and mDia1 individually regulate signals and dynamics of these structures remains unknown. We stimulated serum-starved Swiss 3T3 fibroblasts with LPA and compared the effects of C3 exoenzyme, a Rho inhibitor, with those of Y-27632, a ROCK inhibitor. Y-27632 treatment suppressed LPA-induced formation of stress fibers and focal adhesions as did C3 exoenzyme but induced membrane ruffles and focal complexes, which were absent in the C3 exoenzyme-treated cells. This phenotype was suppressed by expression of N17Rac. Consistently, the amount of GTP-Rac increased significantly by Y-27632 in LPA-stimulated cells. Biochemically, Y-27632 suppressed tyrosine phosphorylation of paxillin and focal adhesion kinase and not that of Cas. Inhibition of Cas phosphorylation with PP1 or expression of a dominant negative Cas mutant inhibited Y-27632–induced membrane ruffle formation. Moreover, Crk-II mutants lacking in binding to either phosphorylated Cas or DOCK180 suppressed the Y-27632–induced membrane ruffle formation. Finally, expression of a dominant negative mDia1 mutant also inhibited the membrane ruffle formation by Y-27632. Thus, these results have revealed the Rho-dependent Rac activation signaling that is mediated by mDia1 through Cas phosphorylation and antagonized by the action of ROCK.


2018 ◽  
Vol 108 (4) ◽  
pp. 510-520 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shunwen Lu ◽  
Michael C. Edwards

The group 1 pathogenesis-related (PR-1) proteins originally identified from plants and their homologs are also found in other eukaryotic kingdoms. Studies on nonplant PR-1-like (PR-1L) proteins have been pursued widely in humans and animals but rarely in filamentous ascomycetes. Here, we report the characterization of four PR-1L proteins identified from the ascomycete fungus Fusarium graminearum, the primary cause of Fusarium head blight of wheat and barley (designated FgPR-1L). Molecular cloning revealed that the four FgPR-1L proteins are all encoded by small open reading frames (612 to 909 bp) that are often interrupted by introns, in contrast to plant PR-1 genes that lack introns. Sequence analysis indicated that all FgPR-1L proteins contain the PR-1-specific three-dimensional structure, and one of them features a C-terminal transmembrane (TM) domain that has not been reported for any stand-alone PR-1 proteins. Transcriptional analysis revealed that the four FgPR-1L genes are expressed in axenic cultures and in planta with different spatial or temporal expression patterns. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that fungal PR-1L proteins fall into three major groups, one of which harbors FgPR-1L-2-related TM-containing proteins from both phytopathogenic and human-pathogenic ascomycetes. Low-temperature sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and proteolytic assays indicated that the recombinant FgPR-1L-4 protein exists as a monomer and is resistant to subtilisin of the serine protease family. Functional analysis confirmed that deletion of the FgPR-1L-4 gene from the fungal genome results in significantly reduced virulence on susceptible wheat. This study provides the first example that the F. graminearum–wheat interaction involves a pathogen-derived PR-1L protein that affects fungal virulence on the host.


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