Extremely Low Concentrations of Acetic Acid Stimulate Cell Differentiation in Rice Blast Fungus

Misa Kuroki; Yuriko Shiga; Megumi Narukawa-Nara; Takayuki Arazoe; Takashi Kamakura

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2019.100786

Extremely Low Concentrations of Acetic Acid Stimulate Cell Differentiation in Rice Blast Fungus

iScience. 2020 Jan 24;23(1):100786. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2019.100786. Epub 2019 Dec 19.

Authors

Misa Kuroki¹, Yuriko Shiga¹, Megumi Narukawa-Nara², Takayuki Arazoe¹, Takashi Kamakura³

Affiliations

¹ Tokyo University of Science, Department of Applied Biological Science, Faculty of Science and Technology, 2641, Yamazaki, Noda, Chiba 278-8510, Japan.
² Osaka University, Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Department of Molecular Microbiology, 3-1 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871 Japan.
³ Tokyo University of Science, Department of Applied Biological Science, Faculty of Science and Technology, 2641, Yamazaki, Noda, Chiba 278-8510, Japan. Electronic address: kamakura@rs.noda.tus.ac.jp.

Abstract

Metabolic switching and rewiring play a dynamic role in programmed cell differentiation. Many pathogenic microbes need to survive in nutrient-deficient conditions and use the glyoxylate cycle, an anaplerotic pathway of the tricarboxylic acid cycle, to produce carbohydrates. The plant pathogenic fungus Magnaporthe oryzae (Pyricularia oryzae) has a unique chitin deacetylase, Cbp1. The spatiotemporal activity of this protein is required for modification of the M. oryzae wall and for cell differentiation into the specialized infection structure (appressorium). Here we show that acetic acid, another product released by the Cbp1-catalyzed conversion of chitin into chitosan, induces appressorium formation. An extremely low concentration (fM) of acetic acid restored cell differentiation in a Δcbp1 mutant possibly through the glyoxylate cycle.

Keywords: Biological Sciences; Interaction of Plants with Organisms; Molecular Plant Pathology; Plant Biology; Plant Pathology.