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A two-component histidine kinase, MoSLN1, is required for cell wall integrity and pathogenicity of the rice blast fungus, Magnaporthe oryzae

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Abstract

A two-component signal transduction system is a common mechanism for environmental sensing in bacteria. The functions of the two-component molecules have been also well characterized in the lower eukaryotic fungi in recent years. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the histidine kinase Sln1p is a major component of the two-component signaling pathways and a key regulator of the osmolarity response. To determine the function of MoSLN1, a Sln1 homolog of Magnaporthe oryzae, we cloned the MoSLN1 gene and generated specific mutants using gene knock-out strategy. Disruption of MoSLN1 resulted in hypersensitivity to various stresses, reduced sensitivity to cell wall perturbing agent Calcofluor white, and loss of pathogenicity, mainly due to a penetration defect. Additionally, we showed that MoSLN1 is involved in oxidative signaling through modulation of intra- and extracellular peroxidase activities. These results indicate that MoSLN1 functions as a pathogenicity factor that plays a role in responses to osmotic stress, the cell wall integrity, and the activity of peroxidases.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge funding from a Commonweal Specialized Research Fund of China Agriculture (200803008), Natural Science Foundations of China (Grant No. 30771394 and No. 30971890 to XB Zheng), New Century Excellent Scholar Project of Ministry of Education of China (Grant No. NCET-07-0442 to ZG Zhang), and the National 863 project of China (No. 2008AA10Z410, ZG Zhang). We thank ZY Wang of Zhejiang University, PRC for providing plasmids pCB1532 and pCB1003. We are also grateful to S.B. Goodwin and A. Ponomarenko of Purdue University (USA), and Ping Wang of LSUHSC (USA) for their critical comments and helpful suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Pathology, College of Plant Protection, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 210095, China

    Haifeng Zhang, Kaiyue Liu, Xing Zhang, Wenwen Song, Qian Zhao, Yanhan Dong, Min Guo, Xiaobo Zheng & Zhengguang Zhang

  2. Key Laboratory of Monitoring and Management of Crop Diseases and Pest Insects, Ministry of Agriculture, Nanjing, 210095, China

    Haifeng Zhang, Kaiyue Liu, Xing Zhang, Wenwen Song, Qian Zhao, Yanhan Dong, Min Guo, Xiaobo Zheng & Zhengguang Zhang

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  1. Haifeng Zhang
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Correspondence to Zhengguang Zhang.

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Communicated by K. Borkovich.

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Zhang, H., Liu, K., Zhang, X. et al. A two-component histidine kinase, MoSLN1, is required for cell wall integrity and pathogenicity of the rice blast fungus, Magnaporthe oryzae . Curr Genet 56, 517–528 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00294-010-0319-x

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