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Identification of a key G-protein coupled receptor in mediating appressorium formation and fungal virulence against insects

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Abstract

Fungal G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) play essential roles in sensing environmental cues including host signals. The study of GPCR in mediating fungus-insect interactions is still limited. Here we report the evolution of GPCR genes encoded in the entomopathogenic Metarhizium species and found the expansion of Pth11-like GPCRs in the generalist species with a wide host range. By deletion of ten candidate genes MrGpr1-MrGpr10 selected from the six obtained subfamilies in the generalist M. robertsii, we found that each of them played a varied level of roles in mediating appressorium formation. In particular, deletion of MrGpr8 resulted in the failure of appressorium formation on different substrates and the loss of virulence during topical infection of insects but not during injection assays when compared with the wild-type (WT) strain. Further analysis revealed that disruption of MrGpr8 substantially impaired the nucleus translocation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) Mero-Fus3 but not the MAPK Mero-Slt2 during appressorium formation. We also found that the defect of AMrGpr8 could not be rescued with the addition of cyclic AMP for appressorium formation. Relative to the WT, differential expression of the selected genes have also been detected in AMrGpr8. The results of this study may benefit the understanding of fungus-interactions mediated by GPCRs.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Programs of China (2017YFD0200400 and 2017YFD0201202) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31501699).

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  1. Contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental and Evolutionary Biology, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200032, China

    Junmei Shang, Yanfang Shang, Guirong Tang & Chengshu Wang

  2. CAS Center for Excellence in Biotic Interactions, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Junmei Shang & Chengshu Wang

  3. School of Life Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, 201210, China

    Chengshu Wang

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  1. Junmei Shang
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  2. Yanfang Shang
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Correspondence to Chengshu Wang.

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Shang, J., Shang, Y., Tang, G. et al. Identification of a key G-protein coupled receptor in mediating appressorium formation and fungal virulence against insects. Sci. China Life Sci. 64, 466–477 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-020-1763-1

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