Cell Wall Biogenesis Protein Phosphatase CrSsd1 Is Required for Conidiation, Cell Wall Integrity, and Mycoparasitism in Clonostachys rosea

Abstract

Cell wall biogenesis protein phosphatases play important roles in various cellular processes in fungi. However, their functions in the widely distributed mycoparasitic fungus Clonostachys rosea remain unclear, as do their potential for controlling plant fungal diseases. Herein, the function of cell wall biogenesis protein phosphatase CrSsd1 in C. rosea 67-1 was investigated using gene disruption and complementation approaches. The gene-deficient mutant ΔCrSsd1 exhibited much lower conidiation, hyphal growth, mycoparasitic ability, and biocontrol efficacy than the wild-type (WT) strain, and it was more sensitive to sorbitol and Congo red. The results indicate that CrSsd1 is involved in fungal conidiation, osmotic stress adaptation, cell wall integrity, and mycoparasitism in C. rosea.

Screening and characterisation of proteins interacting with the mitogen-activated protein kinase Crmapk in the fungus Clonostachys chloroleuca

“…Nine differentially expressed interacting genes ( NODE_115_3 , NODE_1331_7 , NODE_201_16 , NODE_374_8 , NODE_38_86 , NODE_486_20 , NODE_52_12 , NODE_525_9 , NODE_606_27 ) were selected randomly and their expression levels during mycoparasitism on S. sclerotiorum sclerotia were determined by qRT-PCR as previously described 8 . The letter ‘a’ represents the controls (samples without sclerotia) and ‘b’ represents the treatments by S. sclerotiorum sclerotia.…”

“…Multiple mechanisms, mycoparasitism, antagonism, competition, induced plant resistance, and secretion of cell wall-degrading enzymes are all involved in the biocontrol properties of the fungus 3 – 5 . In recent years, the functional genes of C. rosea have attracted much attention, and a number of genes, such as nonribosomal peptide synthetase gene nps4 , transcription factor-encoding gene crtf , and cell wall biogenesis protein phosphatase gene CrSsd1 were identified to be involved in fungal growth, conidiation, mycoparasitic ability, and biocontrol activity 6 – 8 . In the previous study, we sequenced and analysed the transcriptome of the highly efficient C. chloroleuca strain 67-1 (formerly C. rosea 67-1) mycoparasitising the sclerotia of S. sclerotiorum 9 , from which we identified the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)-encoding gene Crmapk that is orthologous to a Fus3/Kss1 pathway member in Saccharomyces cerevisiae .…”

Glucose-6-phosphate 1-Epimerase CrGlu6 Contributes to Development and Biocontrol Efficiency in Clonostachys chloroleuca

“…Sclerotia were immersed in spore suspensions of different strains at a concentration of 1 × 10 7 spores/mL for 10 min, then placed onto a piece of wet sterile filter paper in a Petri dish (9 cm diameter) and cultured at 26 • C. Treatment with sterile water was used as a control. One week later, the parasitic severity of sclerotia was counted under a BX41 inverted microscope (Olympus) based on a 4-grade scale as described previously [57]. A total of 30 sclerotia were tested for each treatment with three replicates.…”

Advances and Perspectives in the Use of Biocontrol Agents against Fungal Plant Diseases

“…Several studies of functional genetics have also been performed in C. rosea. Genes that were demonstrated to be important for mycoparasitism and biocontrol activity are (i) the MFS transporter gene mfs464 [258], (ii) the gene encoding the cell wall biogenesis protein phosphatase CrSsd1 [259], (iii) the nonribosomal peptide synthetase gene nps1 [260], (iv) the polyketide synthase-encoding gene pks29 [261], and (v) the mitogen-activated protein kinase gene Crmapk of C. chloroleuca [262]. Last, overexpression of the C. rosea endochitinase gene Chi67-1 increased its biocontrol activity against S. sclerotiorum [263].…”