Functional analysis of BcBem1 and its interaction partners in Botrytis cinerea: impact on differentiation and virulence

PLoS One. 2014 May 5;9(5):e95172. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0095172. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

In phytopathogenic fungi the establishment and maintenance of polarity is not only essential for vegetative growth and differentiation, but also for penetration and colonization of host tissues. We investigated orthologs of members of the yeast polarity complex in the grey mould fungus Botrytis cinerea: the scaffold proteins Bem1 and Far1, the GEF (guanine nucleotide exchange factor) Cdc24, and the formin Bni1 (named Sep1 in B. cinerea). BcBem1 does not play an important role in regular hyphal growth, but has significant impact on spore formation and germination, on the establishment of conidial anastomosis tubes (CATs) and on virulence. As in other fungi, BcBem1 interacts with the GEF BcCdc24 and the formin BcSep1, indicating that in B. cinerea the apical complex has a similar structure as in yeast. A functional analysis of BcCdc24 suggests that it is essential for growth, since it was not possible to obtain homokaryotic deletion mutants. Heterokaryons of Δcdc24 (supposed to exhibit reduced bccdc24 transcript levels) already show a strong phenotype: an inability to penetrate the host tissue, a significantly reduced growth rate and malformation of conidia, which tend to burst as observed for Δbcbem1. Also the formin BcSep1 has significant impact on hyphal growth and development, whereas the role of the putative ortholog of the yeast scaffold protein Far1 remains open: Δbcfar1 mutants have no obvious phenotypes.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing / genetics
  • Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing / metabolism*
  • Botrytis / genetics
  • Botrytis / metabolism*
  • Botrytis / pathogenicity*
  • Cell Cycle Proteins / genetics
  • Cell Cycle Proteins / metabolism
  • Fungal Proteins / genetics
  • Fungal Proteins / metabolism*
  • Hyphae / genetics
  • Hyphae / metabolism*
  • Hyphae / pathogenicity
  • Plant Diseases / microbiology
  • Virulence Factors / genetics
  • Virulence Factors / metabolism*

Substances

  • Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing
  • Cell Cycle Proteins
  • Fungal Proteins
  • Virulence Factors

Grants and funding

Funding provided by DFG Trilateral program Tu50/15. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.