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A Kinesin Vdkin2 Required for Vacuole Formation, Mycelium Growth, and Penetration Structure Formation of Verticillium dahliae

Authors :
Xing Yang
Cuimei Guo
Chi Chen
Zhijuan Hu
Xinyao Zheng
Shan Xu
Xingyong Yang
Chengjian Xie
Source :
Journal of Fungi, Vol 8, Iss 4, p 391 (2022)
Publication Year :
2022
Publisher :
MDPI AG, 2022.

Abstract

The soil-borne vascular fungus Verticillium dahliae infects hundreds of dicotyledonous plants, causing severe wilt diseases. During the initial colonization, V. dahliae develops a penetration peg to enable infection of cotton roots. In some phytopathogenic fungi, vacuoles play a critical role in normal formation of the infection structure. Kinesin 2 protein is associated with vacuole formation in Ustilago maydis. To identify the function of vacuoles in the V. dahliae infection structure, we identified VdKin2, an ortholog of kinesin 2, in V. dahliae and investigated its function through gene knockout. VdKin2 mutants showed severe defects in virulence and were suppressed during initial infection and root colonization based on observation of green fluorescent protein-labeled V. dahliae. We also found that deletion of VdKin2 compromised penetration peg formation and the derived septin neck. Disruption strains were viable and showed normal microsclerotia formation, whereas mycelium growth and conidial production were reduced, with shorter and more branched hyphae. Furthermore, the VdKin2 mutant, unlike wild-type V. dahliae, lacked a large basal vacuole, accompanied by a failure to generate concentrated lipid droplets. Taken together, VdKin2 regulates vacuole formation by V. dahliae, which is required for conidiation, mycelium growth, and penetration structure formation during initial plant root infection.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
2309608X
Volume :
8
Issue :
4
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Journal of Fungi
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.0ad184e0a7b4087b507aadf5e1bb09f
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3390/jof8040391