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Cloning and characteristics of Brn1 gene in Curvularia lunata causing leaf spot in maize

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Abstract

The full length cDNA of the Brn1 was first cloned, and then expression of the Brn1 was analyzed and the function was identified by silencing technology. Results show that the full length cDNA of the C. lunata Brn1 gene contains 1001 base pairs and an 801 bp open reading frame encoding 267 amino acids. Semi-quantitative PCR analysis shows that the expression of Brn1 at 96 h is significantly higher than at 24 and 72 h (p < 0.05) in both the highly virulent isolate CX-3 and the weakly virulent isolate DD60. Brn1-silenced transformants were light brown in culture filtrate, and have significantly reduced toxin production relative to the wild-type. These results imply that Brn1 gene in C. lunata is not only involved in 1,8-dihydroxynaphthalene melanin synthesis, but is also relatively associated with toxin biosynthesis of the pathogen.

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Acknowledgement

We thank Dr. He Ming, Shanghai Jiaotong University, P. R. China, for technical assistance in RT-PCR. This work was supported by grant of National Natural Science Foundation (30871610 and 30971949), China Agriculture Research System (CARS-02).

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Correspondence to Jie Chen.

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Tong Liu and Shufa Xu contributed equally to this work.

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Liu, T., Xu, S., Liu, L. et al. Cloning and characteristics of Brn1 gene in Curvularia lunata causing leaf spot in maize. Eur J Plant Pathol 131, 211–219 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10658-011-9800-8

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