A Novel Core Effector Vp1 Promotes Fungal Colonization and Virulence of Ustilago maydis

The biotrophic fungus Ustilago maydis secretes a plethora of uncharacterized effector proteins and causes smut disease in maize. Among the effector genes that are up-regulated during the biotrophic growth in maize, we identified vp1 (virulence promoting 1), which has an expression that was up-regula...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of fungi (Basel) 2021-07, Vol.7 (8), p.589
Main Authors: Hoang, Cuong V., Bhaskar, Chibbhi K., Ma, Lay-Sun
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amino acid sequence
Apoplast
biotrophic pathogen
C-Terminus
Cell division
Cloning
Colonization
Complementation
core effector
Cytoplasm
Flowers & plants
Fungi
Genes
Genomes
Infections
Kinases
Life cycles
Localization
Metabolism
nuclear localization
Peptides
Plasmids
Proteins
Smut
smut fungi
Tumors
Ustilago maydis
Virulence
VP1 protein
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Summary:The biotrophic fungus Ustilago maydis secretes a plethora of uncharacterized effector proteins and causes smut disease in maize. Among the effector genes that are up-regulated during the biotrophic growth in maize, we identified vp1 (virulence promoting 1), which has an expression that was up-regulated and maintained at a high level throughout the life cycle of the fungus. We characterized Vp1 by applying in silico analysis, reverse genetics, phenotypic assessment, microscopy, and protein localization and provided a fundamental understanding of the Vp1 protein in U. maydis. The reduction in fungal virulence and colonization in the vp1 mutant suggests the virulence-promoting function of Vp1. The deletion studies on the NLS (nuclear localization signal) sequence and the protein localization study revealed that the C-terminus of Vp1 is processed after secretion in plant apoplast and could localize to the plant nucleus. The Ustilago hordei ortholog UhVp1 lacks NLS localized in the plant cytoplasm, suggesting that the orthologs might have a distinct subcellular localization. Further complementation studies of the Vp1 orthologs in related smut fungi revealed that none of them could complement the virulence function of U. maydis Vp1, suggesting that UmVp1 could acquire a specialized function via sequence divergence.
ISSN:2309-608X
2309-608X
DOI:10.3390/jof7080589