Immune surveillance on the insect body surface recognizes a pathogen‑derived fungal protease to activate defenses
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
ORGANISM(S): Locusta Migratoria Manilensis
SUBMITTER: 
Jun Li
PROVIDER: PXD076064 | iProX | Tue Mar 24 00:00:00 GMT 2026
REPOSITORIES: iProX
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Project description:Identifying the genetic basis for natural selection is a fundamental research goal, and particularly significant for soil fungi because of their central role in ecosystem functioning. Here, we identify rapid evolutionary processes in the plant root colonizing insect pathogen Metarhizium robertsii. While adapting to a new soil community, expression of TATA box containing cell wall and stress response genes evolved at an accelerated rate, whereas virulence determinants, transposons and chromosome structure were unaltered. The survival of diversified field isolates was increased, confirming that the mutations were adaptive, and we further show that large populations of Metarhizium are principally maintained by associations with plant roots rather than insect populations. These results provide a mechanistic basis for understanding mutational and selective effects on soil microbes.
2012-01-04 | GSE30175 | GEO
Project description:A genomic insight into how an insect pest responds to the infection of a fungal insect pathogen, such as Beauveria bassiana, is critical for alternative strategy of insect pest contol based on fungal insecticides but has not been well probed. Here we constructed three pairs of digital expression libraries (transcriptomes) of Plutella xylostella (global lepidopteran pest) larvae 24, 36 and 48 hours post treatment of infection (hptI) and control (hptC) to reveal the host response to B. bassiana infection at genomic level. The paired libraries comprised 2144, 3200 and 2967 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of P. xylostella at 24, 36 and 48 hptI/hptC, respectively. These DEGs were enriched in various immune pathways activated by the fungal infection, such as the pathways of complement and coagulation cascades, protein digestion and absorption, and drug metabolism - cytochrome P450. We found that 24 hptI was critical either for the cuticular penetration of B. bassiana or for the initial activation of the host defense system. The host immune response peaked at 36 hptI so that multiple defense mechanisms were activated against the fungal entry into the host hemocoel. At 48 hptI, many host genes involved in immunity and metabolism were downregulated, suggesting a success of fungal localization in the host hemocoel by overcoming the host defense reaction. Finally, we revealed that several fungal pathways could play important roles in the host-pathogen interaction, such as antioxidant activity, peroxidase activity and proteolysis. Up to 1636 fungal genes were co-expressed at the three time points, and 116 of them encode putative secretion proteins. Our results provide a novel insight into the pathogen-insect interaction and help to probe molecular mechanisms involved in the control of P. xylostella by B. bassiana.
2016-04-06 | GSE72383 | GEO
Project description:A genomic insight into how an insect pest responds to the infection of a fungal insect pathogen, such as Beauveria bassiana, is critical for alternative strategy of insect pest contol based on fungal insecticides but has not been well probed. Here we constructed three pairs of digital expression libraries (transcriptomes) of Plutella xylostella (global lepidopteran pest) larvae 24, 36 and 48 hours post treatment of infection (hptI) and control (hptC) to reveal the host response to B. bassiana infection at genomic level. The paired libraries comprised 2144, 3200 and 2967 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of P. xylostella at 24, 36 and 48 hptI/hptC, respectively. These DEGs were enriched in various immune pathways activated by the fungal infection, such as the pathways of complement and coagulation cascades, protein digestion and absorption, and drug metabolism - cytochrome P450. We found that 24 hptI was critical either for the cuticular penetration of B. bassiana or for the initial activation of the host defense system. The host immune response peaked at 36 hptI so that multiple defense mechanisms were activated against the fungal entry into the host hemocoel. At 48 hptI, many host genes involved in immunity and metabolism were downregulated, suggesting a success of fungal localization in the host hemocoel by overcoming the host defense reaction. Finally, we revealed that several fungal pathways could play important roles in the host-pathogen interaction, such as antioxidant activity, peroxidase activity and proteolysis. Up to 1636 fungal genes were co-expressed at the three time points, and 116 of them encode putative secretion proteins. Our results provide a novel insight into the pathogen-insect interaction and help to probe molecular mechanisms involved in the control of P. xylostella by B. bassiana. Here we constructed three pairs of digital expression libraries (transcriptomes) of Plutella xylostella (global lepidopteran pest) larvae 24, 36 and 48 hours post treatment of infection (hptI) and control (hptC) to reveal the host response to B. bassiana infection at genomic level
2016-04-06 | E-GEOD-72383 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Successful host tissue colonization is crucial for fungal pathogens to cause mycosis and complete the infection cycle, in which fungal cells undergo a series of morphological transition-included cellular events to combat with hosts. However, many transcription factors (TFs) and their mediated networks regulating fungal pathogen colonization of host tissue are not well characterized. Here, a TF (BbHCR1)-mediated regulatory network was identified in an insect pathogenic fungus, Beauveria bassiana, that controlled insect hemocoel colonization. BbHCR1 was highly expressed in fungal cells after reaching insect hemocoel and controlled the yeast (in vivo blastospores)-to-hyphal morphological switch, evasion of immune defense response, and fungal virulence. Comparative analysis of RNA sequencing and chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing identified a core set of BbHCR1 target genes during hemocoel colonization, in which abaA and brlA were targeted to limit the rapid switch from blastospores to hyphae and fungal virulence. Two targets encoding hypothetical proteins, HP1 and HP2, were activated and repressed by BbHCR1, respectively, which acted as a virulence factor and repressor, respectively, suggesting that BbHCR1 activated virulence factors but repressed virulence repressors during the colonization of insect hemocoel. BbHCR1 tuned the expression of two dominant hemocoel colonization-involved metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters, which linked its regulatory role in evasion of immune response. Those functions of BbHCR1 were found to be collaboratively regulated by Fus3- and Hog1-MAP kinases via phosphorylation. These findings have drawn a regulatory network in which Fus3- and Hog1-MAP kinases phosphorylate BbHCR1, which in turn controls the colonization of insect body cavities by regulating fungal morphological transition and virulence-implicated genes.IMPORTANCEFungal pathogens adopt a series of tactics for successful colonization in host tissues, which include morphological transition and the generation of toxic and immunosuppressive molecules. However, many transcription factors (TFs) and their linked pathways that regulate tissue colonization are not well characterized. Here, we identified a TF (BbHCR1)-mediated regulatory network that controls the insect fungal pathogen, Beauveria bassiana, colonization of insect hemocoel. During these processes, BbHCR1 targeted the fungal central development pathway for the control of yeast (blastospores)-to-hyphae morphological transition, activated virulence factors, repressed virulence repressors, and tuned the expression of two dominant hemocoel colonization-involved immunosuppressive and immunostimulatory metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters. The BbHCR1 regulatory function was governed by Fus3- and Hog1-MAP kinases. These findings led to a new regulatory network composed of Fus3- and Hog1-MAP kinases and BbHCR1 that control insect body cavity colonization by regulating fungal morphological transition and virulence-implicated genes.
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