Chitosan Is Necessary for the Structure of the Cell Wall, and Full Virulence of Ustilago maydis.

ABSTRACT: Smut fungi comprise a large group of biotrophic phytopathogens infecting important crops, such as wheat and corn. U. maydis is a plant pathogenic fungus responsible for common smut in maize and teocintle. Through our analysis of the transcriptome of the yeast-to-mycelium dimorphic transition at acid pH, we determined the number of genes encoding chitin deacetylases of the fungus, and observed that the gene encoding one of them (UMAG_11922; CDA1) was the only one up-regulated. The mutation of this gene and the analysis of the mutants revealed that they contained reduced amounts of chitosan, were severely affected in their virulence, and showed aberrant mycelial morphology when grown at acid pH. When the CDA1 gene was reinserted into the mutants by the use of an autonomo

SUBMITTER: Sanchez-Arreguin JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9409902 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature