PKA activity is essential for relieving the suppression of hyphal growth and appressorium formation by MoSfl1 in Magnaporthe oryzae

PLoS Genet. 2017 Aug 14;13(8):e1006954. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1006954. eCollection 2017 Aug.

Abstract

In the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae, the cAMP-PKA pathway regulates surface recognition, appressorium turgor generation, and invasive growth. However, deletion of CPKA failed to block appressorium formation and responses to exogenous cAMP. In this study, we generated and characterized the cpk2 and cpkA cpk2 mutants and spontaneous suppressors of cpkA cpk2 in M. oryzae. Our results demonstrate that CPKA and CPK2 have specific and overlapping functions, and PKA activity is essential for appressorium formation and plant infection. Unlike the single mutants, the cpkA cpk2 mutant was significantly reduced in growth and rarely produced conidia. It failed to form appressoria although the intracellular cAMP level and phosphorylation of Pmk1 MAP kinase were increased. The double mutant also was defective in plant penetration and Mps1 activation. Interestingly, it often produced fast-growing spontaneous suppressors that formed appressoria but were still non-pathogenic. Two suppressor strains of cpkA cpk2 had deletion and insertion mutations in the MoSFL1 transcription factor gene. Deletion of MoSFL1 or its C-terminal 93-aa (MoSFL1ΔCT) was confirmed to suppress the defects of cpkA cpk2 in hyphal growth but not appressorium formation or pathogenesis. We also isolated 30 spontaneous suppressors of the cpkA cpk2 mutant in Fusarium graminearum and identified mutations in 29 of them in FgSFL1. Affinity purification and co-IP assays showed that this C-terminal region of MoSfl1 was essential for its interaction with the conserved Cyc8-Tup1 transcriptional co-repressor, which was reduced by cAMP treatment. Furthermore, the S211D mutation at the conserved PKA-phosphorylation site in MoSFL1 partially suppressed the defects of cpkA cpk2. Overall, our results indicate that PKA activity is essential for appressorium formation and proper activation of Pmk1 or Mps1 in M. oryzae, and phosphorylation of MoSfl1 by PKA relieves its interaction with the Cyc8-Tup1 co-repressor and suppression of genes important for hyphal growth.

MeSH terms

  • Cyclic AMP / metabolism*
  • Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases / genetics
  • Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases / metabolism*
  • Fungal Proteins / genetics
  • Fungal Proteins / metabolism*
  • Gene Deletion
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal
  • Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions
  • Magnaporthe / enzymology
  • Magnaporthe / genetics
  • Magnaporthe / growth & development*
  • Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases / genetics
  • Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases / metabolism
  • Mutation
  • Oryza / microbiology*
  • Phosphorylation
  • Plant Diseases / microbiology
  • Signal Transduction
  • Transcription Factors / genetics
  • Transcription Factors / metabolism*

Substances

  • Fungal Proteins
  • Transcription Factors
  • Cyclic AMP
  • Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases
  • Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grants from the National Research Initiative of the USDA NIFA (Award number: 2010-65110-20439 and 2013-68004-20378), US Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative, and National Natural Science Foundation of China (31301607). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.