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The glyoxylate cycle is required for temporal regulation of virulence by the plant pathogenic fungus Magnaporthe grisea
Author(s) -
Wang ZhengYi,
Thornton Christopher R.,
Kershaw Michael J.,
Debao Li,
Talbot Nicholas J.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
molecular microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.857
H-Index - 247
eISSN - 1365-2958
pISSN - 0950-382X
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2958.2003.03412.x
Subject(s) - magnaporthe grisea , biology , virulence , glyoxylate cycle , fungus , magnaporthe , microbiology and biotechnology , pathogenic fungus , botany , genetics , gene , biochemistry , oryza sativa , enzyme
Summary We describe the isolation and characterization of ICL1 from the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe grisea , a gene that encodes isocitrate lyase, one of the principal enzymes of the glyoxylate cycle. ICL1 shows elevated expression during development of infection structures and cuticle penetration, and a targeted gene replacement showed that the gene is required for full virulence by M. grisea . In particular, we found that the prepenetration stage of development, before entry into plant tissue, is affected by loss of the glyoxylate cycle. There is a delay in germination, infection‐related development and cuticle penetration in Δ icl1 mutants. Recent reports have shown the importance of the glyoxylate cycle in the virulence of the human pathogenic fungus Candida albicans and the bacterial pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis . Our results indicate that the glyoxylate cycle is also important in this plant pathogenic fungus, demonstrating the widespread utility of the pathway in microbial pathogenesis.