Infection-associated nuclear degeneration in the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae requires non-selective macro-autophagy.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae elaborates a specialized infection structure called an appressorium to breach the rice leaf surface and gain access to plant tissue. Appressorium development is controlled by cell cycle progression, and a single round of nuclear division occurs prior to appressorium formation. Mitosis is always followed by programmed cell death of the spore from which the appressorium develops. Nuclear degeneration in the spore is known to be essential for plant infection, but the precise mechanism by which it occurs is not known.

Methodology/principal findings

In yeast, nuclear breakdown requires a specific form of autophagy, known as piecemeal microautophagy of the nucleus (PMN), and we therefore investigated whether this process occurs i

SUBMITTER: He M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3308974 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature