Galactofuranose (Galf)-containing sugar chain contributes to the hyphal growth, conidiation and virulence of F. oxysporum f.sp. cucumerinum

PLoS One. 2021 Jul 30;16(7):e0250064. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0250064. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

The ascomycete fungus Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cucumerinum causes vascular wilt diseases in cucumber. However, few genes related to morphogenesis and pathogenicity of this fungal pathogen have been functionally characterized. BLASTp searches of the Aspergillus fumigatus UgmA and galatofuranosyltransferases (Galf-transferases) sequences in the F. oxysporum genome identified two genes encoding putative UDP-galactopyranose mutase (UGM), ugmA and ugmB, and six genes encoding putative Galf-transferase homologs. In this study, the single and double mutants of the ugmA, ugmB and gfsB were obtained. The roles of UGMs and GfsB were investigated by analyzing the phenotypes of the mutants. Our results showed that deletion of the ugmA gene led to a reduced production of galactofuranose-containing sugar chains, reduced growth and impaired conidiation of F. oxysporum f.sp. cucumerinum. Most importantly, the ugmA deletion mutant lost the pathogenicity in cucumber plantlets. Although deletion of the ugmB gene did not cause any visible phenotype, deletion of both ugmA and ugmB genes caused more severe phenotypes as compared with the ΔugmA, suggesting that UgmA and UgmB are redundant and they can both contribute to synthesis of UDP-Galf. Furthermore, the ΔgfsB exhibited an attenuated virulence although no other phenotype was observed. Our results demonstrate that the galactofuranose (Galf) synthesis contributes to the cell wall integrity, germination, hyphal growth, conidiation and virulence in Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cucumerinum and an ideal target for the development of new anti-Fusarium agents.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aspergillus nidulans / enzymology
  • Cucumis sativus / microbiology
  • Fungal Proteins / classification
  • Fungal Proteins / genetics
  • Fungal Proteins / metabolism
  • Fusarium / genetics*
  • Fusarium / growth & development
  • Fusarium / pathogenicity
  • Galactose / analysis
  • Galactose / metabolism*
  • Hyphae / genetics
  • Hyphae / growth & development
  • Intramolecular Transferases / classification
  • Intramolecular Transferases / genetics
  • Intramolecular Transferases / metabolism
  • Mannans / analysis
  • Mannans / metabolism
  • Mutagenesis
  • Phenotype
  • Phylogeny
  • Plant Diseases / microbiology
  • Virulence / genetics*

Substances

  • Fungal Proteins
  • Mannans
  • galactomannan
  • Intramolecular Transferases
  • UDP-galactopyranose mutase
  • Galactose

Supplementary concepts

  • Fusarium oxysporum

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Sciences Foundation of China (31630016 and 31320103901) and partially supported by Bagui Scholar Program Fund (2016A24) of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region to CJ. the funders play no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.