Substrate-Induced Transcriptional Activation of the MoCel7C Cellulase Gene Is Associated with Methylation of Histone H3 at Lysine 4 in the Rice Blast Fungus Magnaporthe oryzae

The mechanisms involved in substrate-dependent regulation of aMagnaporthe oryzae gene encoding a cellulase which we designate MoCel7C (MGG_14954) were investigated. The levels of MoCel7C transcript were dramatically increased more than 1,000-fold, 16 to 24 h after transfer to a medium containing 2% carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), while levels were very low or undetectable in conventional rich medium. Green fluorescent protein reporter assays showed that the MoCel7C promoter was activated by cello-oligosaccharides larger than a pentamer. CMC-induced activation of the MoCel7C promoter was suppressed by glucose and cellobiose. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assays revealed that histone H3 methylation on lysine 4 (H3K4) at the MoCel7C locus was associated with activation of the gene by CMC. Consistently, CMC-induced MoCel7C gene activation was drastically diminished in a knockout (KO) mutant of the MoSET1 gene, which encodes a histone lysine methyltransferase that catalyzes H3K4 methylation inM. oryzae . Interestingly, however, MoCel7C transcript levels under noninducing conditions were significantly increased in the MoSET1 KO mutant, suggesting that MoSET1 directly or indirectly plays a role in both activation and suppression of the MoCel7C gene in response to environmental signals. In addition, gene expression and silencing vectors using the MoCel7C promoter were constructed.