A Phenome-Based Functional Analysis of Transcription Factors in the Cereal Head Blight Fungus, Fusarium graminearum

Abstract

Fusarium graminearum is an important plant pathogen that causes head blight of major cereal crops. The fungus produces mycotoxins that are harmful to animal and human. In this study, a systematic analysis of 17 phenotypes of the mutants in 657 Fusarium graminearum genes encoding putative transcription factors (TFs) resulted in a database of over 11,000 phenotypes (phenome). This database provides comprehensive insights into how this cereal pathogen of global significance regulates traits important for growth, development, stress response, pathogenesis, and toxin production and how transcriptional regulations of these traits are interconnected. In-depth analysis of TFs involved in sexual development revealed that mutations causing defects in perithecia development frequently affect multiple other phenotypes, and the TFs associated with sexual development tend to be highly conserved in the fungal kingdom. Besides providing many new insights into understanding the function of F. graminearum TFs, this mutant library and phenome will be a valuable resource for characterizing the gene expression network in this fungus and serve as a reference for studying how different fungi have evolved to control various cellular processes at the transcriptional level.

Trichoderma Research in the Genome Era

“…Similar efforts are underway for Magnaporthe oryzae (20). In a medium-scale approach, mutants in 657 transcription factor genes were used to construct a phenotype database for Fusarium graminearum (127). The foundations for high-throughput functional genomics have been established for T. reesei with a procedure for efficient construction of knockout mutants (111).…”

In Planta Stage-Specific Fungal Gene Profiling Elucidates the Molecular Strategies of Fusarium graminearum Growing inside Wheat Coleoptiles

“…Several lytic enzymes and numerous other proteins involved in iron uptake, sterol trafficking, nitrate transport, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production have also been linked to pathogenesis (reviewed in Walter et al, 2010). Recently 42 protein kinase genes and 62 transcription factor genes were found to be required for wheat head infection (Son et al, 2011;Wang et al, 2011). However, these studies have not provided a complete blueprint for pathogenesis.…”

FgVelB globally regulates sexual reproduction, mycotoxin production and pathogenicity in the cereal pathogen Fusarium graminearum

“…A recent study that systematically deleted all putative transcription factors (TFs) in this fungus found that many TFs are required for these primary fungal traits (Son et al, 2011b). In addition to the specific TFs, putative global regulators that are involved in the regulation of more diverse functions have also received attention.…”