Virulence of banana wilt-causing fungal pathogen Fusarium oxysporum tropical race 4 is mediated by nitric oxide biosynthesis and accessory genes.
Yong ZhangSiwen LiuDiane MostertHoulin YuMengxia ZhuoGengtan LiCunwu ZuoSajeet HaridasKatie WebsterMinhui LiIgor V GrigorievGanjun YiAltus ViljoenChunyu LiLi-Jun MaPublished in: Nature microbiology (2024)
Fusarium wilt of banana, caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (Foc), is one of the most damaging plant diseases known. Foc race 1 (R1) decimated the Gros Michel-based banana (Musa acuminata) trade, and now Foc tropical race 4 (TR4) threatens global production of its replacement, the Cavendish banana. Here population genomics revealed that all Cavendish banana-infecting Foc race 4 strains share an evolutionary origin distinct from that of R1 strains. Although TR4 lacks accessory chromosomes, it contains accessory genes at the ends of some core chromosomes that are enriched for virulence and mitochondria-related functions. Meta-transcriptomics revealed the unique induction of the entire mitochondrion-localized nitric oxide (NO) biosynthesis pathway upon TR4 infection. Empirically, we confirmed the unique induction of a NO burst in TR4, suggesting that nitrosative pressure may contribute to virulence. Targeted mutagenesis demonstrated the functional importance of fungal NO production and the accessory gene SIX4 as virulence factors.
Keyphrases
- escherichia coli
- nitric oxide
- pseudomonas aeruginosa
- staphylococcus aureus
- biofilm formation
- single cell
- antimicrobial resistance
- genome wide
- cell wall
- climate change
- genome wide identification
- candida albicans
- hydrogen peroxide
- dna methylation
- cystic fibrosis
- bioinformatics analysis
- cell death
- gene expression
- genome wide analysis
- transcription factor