A Pectate Lyase-Coding Gene Abundantly Expressed during Early Stages of Infection Is Required for Full Virulence in Alternaria brassicicola.

ABSTRACT: Alternaria brassicicola causes black spot disease of Brassica species. The functional importance of pectin digestion enzymes and unidentified phytotoxins in fungal pathogenesis has been suspected but not verified in A. brassicicola. The fungal transcription factor AbPf2 is essential for pathogenicity and induces 106 genes during early pathogenesis, including the pectate lyase-coding gene, PL1332. The aim of this study was to test the importance and roles of PL1332 in pathogenesis. We generated deletion strains of the PL1332 gene, produced heterologous PL1332 proteins, and evaluated their association with virulence. Deletion strains of the PL1332 gene were approximately 30% less virulent than wild-type A. brassicicola, without showing differences in colony expansion on solid media and mycel

SUBMITTER: Cho Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4440746 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature