Chitin Deacetylases Are Required for Epichloë festucae Endophytic Cell Wall Remodeling During Establishment of a Mutualistic Symbiotic Interaction with Lolium perenne
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Date
2021-10-28
Open Access Location
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The American Phytopathological Society in cooperation with the International Society for Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions
Rights
(c) 2021 The Author/s
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Abstract
Epichloë festucae forms a mutualistic symbiotic association with Lolium perenne. This biotrophic fungus systemically colonizes the intercellular spaces of aerial tissues to form an endophytic hyphal network and also grows as an epiphyte. However, little is known about the cell wall-remodeling mechanisms required to avoid host defense and maintain intercalary growth within the host. Here, we use a suite of molecular probes to show that the E. festucae cell wall is remodeled by conversion of chitin to chitosan during infection of L. perenne seedlings, as the hyphae switch from free-living to endophytic growth. When hyphae transition from endophytic to epiphytic growth, the cell wall is remodeled from predominantly chitosan to chitin. This conversion from chitin to chitosan is catalyzed by chitin deacetylase. The genome of E. festucae encodes three putative chitin deacetylases, two of which (cdaA and cdaB) are expressed in planta. Deletion of either of these genes results in disruption of fungal intercalary growth in the intercellular spaces of plants infected with these mutants. These results establish that these two genes are required for maintenance of the mutualistic symbiotic interaction between E. festucae and L. perenne.
Description
Keywords
Epichloëfestucae, chitin, chitosan, endophyte, molecular probes, Amidohydrolases, Cell Wall, Chitin, Epichloe, Fungal Proteins, Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal, Lolium, Symbiosis
Citation
Noorifar N, Savoian MS, Ram A, Lukito Y, Hassing B, Weikert TW, Moerschbacher BM, Scott B. (2021). Chitin Deacetylases Are Required for Epichloë festucae Endophytic Cell Wall Remodeling During Establishment of a Mutualistic Symbiotic Interaction with Lolium perenne.. Mol Plant Microbe Interact. 34. 10. (pp. 1181-1192).