Crosstalk between SNF1 pathway and the peroxisome-mediated lipid metabolism in Magnaporthe oryzae

PLoS One. 2014 Aug 4;9(8):e103124. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0103124. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

The SNF1/AMPK pathway has a central role in response to nutrient stress in yeast and mammals. Previous studies on SNF1 function in phytopathogenic fungi mostly focused on the catalytic subunit Snf1 and its contribution to the derepression of cell wall degrading enzymes (CWDEs). However, the MoSnf1 in Magnaporthe oryzae was reported not to be involved in CWDEs regulation. The mechanism how MoSnf1 functions as a virulence determinant remains unclear. In this report, we demonstrate that MoSnf1 retains the ability to respond to nutrient-free environment via its participation in peroxisomal maintenance and lipid metabolism. Observation of GFP-tagged peroxisomal targeting signal-1 (PTS1) revealed that the peroxisomes of ΔMosnf1 were enlarged in mycelia and tended to be degraded before conidial germination, leading to the sharp decline of peroxisomal amount during appressorial development, which might impart the mutant great retard in lipid droplets mobilization and degradation. Consequently, ΔMosnf1 exhibited inability to maintain normal appressorial cell wall porosity and turgor pressure, which are key players in epidermal infection process. Exogenous glucose could partially restore the appressorial function and virulence of ΔMosnf1. Toward a further understanding of SNF1 pathway, the β-subunit MoSip2, γ-subunit MoSnf4, and two putative Snf1-activating kinases, MoSak1 and MoTos3, were additionally identified and characterized. Here we show the null mutants ΔMosip2 and ΔMosnf4 performed multiple disorders as ΔMosnf1 did, suggesting the complex integrity is essential for M. oryzae SNF1 kinase function. And the upstream kinases, MoSak1 and MoTos3, play unequal roles in SNF1 activation with a clear preference to MoSak1 over MoTos3. Meanwhile, the mutant lacking both of them exhibited a severe phenotype comparable to ΔMosnf1, uncovering a cooperative relationship between MoSak1 and MoTos3. Taken together, our data indicate that the SNF1 pathway is required for fungal development and facilitates pathogenicity by its contribution to peroxisomal maintenance and lipid metabolism in M. oryzae.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Carbon / pharmacology
  • Cell Wall / drug effects
  • Cell Wall / metabolism
  • Fermentation / drug effects
  • Fungal Proteins / metabolism*
  • Gene Expression Profiling
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal / drug effects
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins / metabolism
  • Hordeum / microbiology
  • Hyphae / drug effects
  • Hyphae / metabolism
  • Lipid Metabolism* / drug effects
  • Magnaporthe / genetics
  • Magnaporthe / growth & development
  • Magnaporthe / metabolism*
  • Magnaporthe / pathogenicity
  • Mutation
  • Oryza / drug effects
  • Oryza / microbiology
  • Peroxisomes / drug effects
  • Peroxisomes / metabolism*
  • Plant Epidermis / cytology
  • Plant Epidermis / drug effects
  • Plant Epidermis / microbiology
  • Plant Leaves / drug effects
  • Plant Leaves / microbiology
  • Porosity
  • Pressure
  • Protein Binding / drug effects
  • Protein Kinases / metabolism
  • Seedlings / drug effects
  • Seedlings / microbiology
  • Spores, Fungal / drug effects
  • Spores, Fungal / metabolism

Substances

  • Fungal Proteins
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins
  • Carbon
  • Protein Kinases

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grants (No. 31371890 and 31370171) funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.