Herbicides as fungicides: Targeting heme biosynthesis in the maize pathogen Ustilago maydis.

ABSTRACT: Pathogens must efficiently acquire nutrients from host tissue to proliferate, and strategies to block pathogen access therefore hold promise for disease control. In this study, we investigated whether heme biosynthesis is an effective target for ablating the virulence of the phytopathogenic fungus Ustilago maydis on maize plants. We first constructed conditional heme auxotrophs of the fungus by placing the heme biosynthesis gene hem12 encoding uroporphyrinogen decarboxylase (Urod) under the control of nitrogen or carbon source-regulated promoters. These strains were heme auxotrophs under non-permissive conditions and unable to cause disease in maize seedlings, thus demonstrating the inability of the fungus to acquire sufficient heme from host tissue to support proliferation. Subsequent exp

SUBMITTER: Damoo D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11530707 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature