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Chitin is a major component of fungal cell wall and is synthesized by chitin synthases (Chs). Plant pathogenic fungi normally have multiple chitin synthase genes. To determine their roles in development and pathogenesis, we functionally characterized all seven  CHS  genes in  Magnaporthe oryzae . Three of them,  CHS1 ,  CHS6 , and  CHS7 , were found to be important for plant infection. While the  chs6  mutant was non-pathogenic, the  chs1  and  chs7  mutants were significantly reduced in virulence.  CHS1  plays a specific role in conidiogenesis, an essential step for natural infection cycle. Most of  chs1  conidia had no septum and spore tip mucilage. The  chs6  mutant was reduced in hyphal growth and conidiation. It failed to penetrate and grow invasively in plant cells. The two MMD-containing chitin synthase genes,  CHS5  and  CHS6 , have a similar expression pattern. Although deletion of  CHS5  had no detectable phenotype, the  chs5 chs6  double mutant had more severe defects than the  chs6  mutant, indicating that they may have overlapping functions in maintaining polarized growth in vegetative and invasive hyphae. Unlike the other  CHS  genes,  CHS7  has a unique function in appressorium formation. Although it was blocked in appressorium formation by germ tubes on artificial hydrophobic surfaces, the  chs7  mutant still produced melanized appressoria by hyphal tips or on plant surfaces, indicating that chitin synthase genes have distinct impacts on appressorium formation by hyphal tip and germ tube. The  chs7  mutant also was defective in appressorium penetration and invasive growth. Overall, our results indicate that individual  CHS  genes play diverse roles in hyphal growth, conidiogenesis, appressorium development, and pathogenesis in  M. oryzae , and provided potential new leads in the control of this devastating pathogen by targeting specific chitin synthases.

Different Chitin Synthase Genes Are Required for Various Developmental and Plant Infection Processes in the Rice Blast Fungus Magnaporthe oryzae