Over-expression of the cercosporin facilitator protein, CFP, in Cercospora kikuchii up-regulates production and secretion of cercosporin

FEMS Microbiol Lett. 2001 Oct 16;204(1):89-93. doi: 10.1111/j.1574-6968.2001.tb10868.x.

Abstract

CFP (cercosporin facilitator protein), a light-regulated gene from the soybean fungal pathogen Cercospora kikuchii, encodes the putative major facilitator transporter of the fungal polyketide cercosporin. Gene disruption of CFP in C. kikuchii strain Gus-3 resulted in dramatically reduced cercosporin production and virulence, and increased sensitivity to the toxin. Two C. kikuchii transformant strains (10-1 and 10-11) that over-produce cercosporin were recovered from the complementation of CFP gene-disrupted strain Gus-3. Southern analysis revealed that these strains contained multiple genomic copies of CFP and over-expressed CFP transcript and protein. Although 10-1 and 10-11 produce and secrete significantly elevated levels of cercosporin, they exhibit wild-type resistance to cercosporin, and maintain a wild-type pattern of light-regulated toxin accumulation. Restoration of wild-type cercosporin resistance in 10-1 and 10-11 suggests that CFP does contribute substantially to cercosporin resistance via toxin secretion. The three-fold increase in toxin accumulation, predominantly associated with the mycelium fraction of these CFP multi-copy strains, suggests that CFP may also have a significant, but unknown, role in regulating toxin production.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Ascomycota / drug effects
  • Ascomycota / genetics
  • Ascomycota / pathogenicity
  • Ascomycota / physiology*
  • Carrier Proteins / genetics
  • Carrier Proteins / metabolism*
  • Drug Resistance, Fungal
  • Enzyme Inhibitors / metabolism*
  • Enzyme Inhibitors / pharmacology
  • Fungal Proteins*
  • Gene Deletion
  • Gene Dosage
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal
  • Glycine max / microbiology
  • Immunoblotting
  • Membrane Transport Proteins*
  • Perylene / analogs & derivatives*
  • Perylene / metabolism*
  • Perylene / pharmacology
  • Transcription, Genetic
  • Up-Regulation*

Substances

  • Carrier Proteins
  • Enzyme Inhibitors
  • Fungal Proteins
  • Membrane Transport Proteins
  • cercosporin transporter protein, Cercospora
  • Perylene
  • cercosporin