CAMP Signaling Regulates Synchronised Growth of Symbiotic Epichloe Fungi with the Host Grass Lolium perenne.

ABSTRACT: The seed-transmitted fungal symbiont, Epichloë festucae, colonizes grasses by infecting host tissues as they form on the shoot apical meristem (SAM) of the seedling. How this fungus accommodates the complexities of plant development to successfully colonize the leaves and inflorescences is unclear. Since adenosine 3', 5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP)-dependent signaling is often essential for host colonization by fungal pathogens, we disrupted the cAMP cascade by insertional mutagenesis of the E. festucae adenylate cyclase gene (acyA). Consistent with deletions of this gene in other fungi, acyA mutants had a slow radial growth rate in culture, and hyphae were convoluted and hyper-branched suggesting that fungal apical dominance had been disrupted. Nitro blue tetra

SUBMITTER: Voisey CR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5082231 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature