Evidence for a transketolase-mediated metabolic checkpoint governing biotrophic growth in rice cells by the blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae.

ABSTRACT: The blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae threatens global food security through the widespread destruction of cultivated rice. Foliar infection requires a specialized cell called an appressorium that generates turgor to force a thin penetration hypha through the rice cuticle and into the underlying epidermal cells, where the fungus grows for the first days of infection as a symptomless biotroph. Understanding what controls biotrophic growth could open new avenues for developing sustainable blast intervention programs. Here, using molecular genetics and live-cell imaging, we dismantled M. oryzae glucose-metabolizing pathways to reveal that the transketolase enzyme, encoded by TKL1, plays an essential role in facilitating host colonization during rice blast disease. In the absence of transketolas

SUBMITTER: Fernandez J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4154871 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature