The Zymoseptoria tritici white collar-1 gene, ZtWco-1, is required for development and virulence on wheat

Anna M M Tiley; Colleen Lawless; Paola Pilo; Sujit Karki; Jijun Lu; Zhuowei Long; Hesham Gibriel; Andrew M. Bailey; Angela  Feechan

doi:10.1016/j.fgb.2022.103715

The Zymoseptoria tritici white collar-1 gene, ZtWco-1, is required for development and virulence on wheat

Anna M M Tiley, Colleen Lawless, Paola Pilo, Sujit Karki, Jijun Lu, Zhuowei Long, Hesham Gibriel, Andrew M. Bailey, Angela Feechan

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Abstract

The fungus Zymoseptoria tritici causes Septoria Tritici Blotch (STB), which is one of the most devastating diseases of wheat in Europe. There are currently no fully durable methods of control against Z. tritici, so novel strategies are urgently required. One of the ways in which fungi are able to respond to their surrounding environment is through the use of photoreceptor proteins which detect light signals. Although previous evidence suggests that Z. tritici can detect light, no photoreceptor genes have been characterised in this pathogen. This study characterises ZtWco-1, a predicted photoreceptor gene in Z. tritici. The ZtWco-1 gene is a putative homolog to the blue light photoreceptor from Neurospora crassa, wc-1. Z. tritici mutants with deletions in ZtWco-1 have defects in hyphal branching, melanisation and virulence on wheat. In addition, we identify the putative circadian clock gene ZtFrq in Z. tritici. This study provides evidence for the genetic regulation of light detection in Z. tritici and it open avenues for future research into whether this pathogen has a circadian clock.

Original language	English
Article number	103715
Journal	Fungal Genetics and Biology
Volume	161
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fgb.2022.103715
Publication status	Published - 14 Jun 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
AMMT was supported by a Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme award (GOIPD/2018/461) and the BBSRC SWBio Doctoral Training Partnership. This work was performed under DEFRA licence number 51046-198767 and EPA GMO Register No. G0555-01 and G0647-01.

Funding Information:
We thank Flora Greville for assistance with construction of the pΔztwco-1 vector. The authors would also like to thank Dr Harriet Benbow for support with the bioinformatic analyses, and Dr Anthony Twamley for assistance with the RT-qPCR. AMMT designed the project, performed the experiments, analysed the data, and wrote the manuscript. CL and PP assisted in conducting the RT-qPCR experiments. CL performed protein 3D structure and function predictions of ZTWCO-1 and ZTWCO-2 protein interactions. SJK, JL and ZL conducted the yeast two-hybrid assays. HG carried out visual inspection of the ZtWco-1, ZtWco-2 and ZtFrq sequences. AMB provided the IPO323 and Δztwco-1 strains as well as feedback on the manuscript. AF contributed to the experimental design, analysis and provided feedback on the manuscript. AMMT was supported by a Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme award (GOIPD/2018/461) and the BBSRC SWBio Doctoral Training Partnership. This work was performed under DEFRA licence number 51046-198767 and EPA GMO Register No. G0555-01 and G0647-01.

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@article{625a2caa100742fcbd399e17520f5953,

title = "The Zymoseptoria tritici white collar-1 gene, ZtWco-1, is required for development and virulence on wheat",

abstract = "The fungus Zymoseptoria tritici causes Septoria Tritici Blotch (STB), which is one of the most devastating diseases of wheat in Europe. There are currently no fully durable methods of control against Z. tritici, so novel strategies are urgently required. One of the ways in which fungi are able to respond to their surrounding environment is through the use of photoreceptor proteins which detect light signals. Although previous evidence suggests that Z. tritici can detect light, no photoreceptor genes have been characterised in this pathogen. This study characterises ZtWco-1, a predicted photoreceptor gene in Z. tritici. The ZtWco-1 gene is a putative homolog to the blue light photoreceptor from Neurospora crassa, wc-1. Z. tritici mutants with deletions in ZtWco-1 have defects in hyphal branching, melanisation and virulence on wheat. In addition, we identify the putative circadian clock gene ZtFrq in Z. tritici. This study provides evidence for the genetic regulation of light detection in Z. tritici and it open avenues for future research into whether this pathogen has a circadian clock.",

author = "Tiley, {Anna M M} and Colleen Lawless and Paola Pilo and Sujit Karki and Jijun Lu and Zhuowei Long and Hesham Gibriel and Bailey, {Andrew M.} and Angela Feechan",

note = "Funding Information: AMMT was supported by a Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme award (GOIPD/2018/461) and the BBSRC SWBio Doctoral Training Partnership. This work was performed under DEFRA licence number 51046-198767 and EPA GMO Register No. G0555-01 and G0647-01. Funding Information: We thank Flora Greville for assistance with construction of the pΔztwco-1 vector. The authors would also like to thank Dr Harriet Benbow for support with the bioinformatic analyses, and Dr Anthony Twamley for assistance with the RT-qPCR. AMMT designed the project, performed the experiments, analysed the data, and wrote the manuscript. CL and PP assisted in conducting the RT-qPCR experiments. CL performed protein 3D structure and function predictions of ZTWCO-1 and ZTWCO-2 protein interactions. SJK, JL and ZL conducted the yeast two-hybrid assays. HG carried out visual inspection of the ZtWco-1, ZtWco-2 and ZtFrq sequences. AMB provided the IPO323 and Δztwco-1 strains as well as feedback on the manuscript. AF contributed to the experimental design, analysis and provided feedback on the manuscript. AMMT was supported by a Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme award (GOIPD/2018/461) and the BBSRC SWBio Doctoral Training Partnership. This work was performed under DEFRA licence number 51046-198767 and EPA GMO Register No. G0555-01 and G0647-01. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022",

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doi = "10.1016/j.fgb.2022.103715",

language = "English",

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journal = "Fungal Genetics and Biology",

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T1 - The Zymoseptoria tritici white collar-1 gene, ZtWco-1, is required for development and virulence on wheat

AU - Tiley, Anna M M

AU - Lawless, Colleen

AU - Pilo, Paola

AU - Karki, Sujit

AU - Lu, Jijun

AU - Long, Zhuowei

AU - Gibriel, Hesham

AU - Bailey, Andrew M.

AU - Feechan, Angela

N1 - Funding Information: AMMT was supported by a Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme award (GOIPD/2018/461) and the BBSRC SWBio Doctoral Training Partnership. This work was performed under DEFRA licence number 51046-198767 and EPA GMO Register No. G0555-01 and G0647-01. Funding Information: We thank Flora Greville for assistance with construction of the pΔztwco-1 vector. The authors would also like to thank Dr Harriet Benbow for support with the bioinformatic analyses, and Dr Anthony Twamley for assistance with the RT-qPCR. AMMT designed the project, performed the experiments, analysed the data, and wrote the manuscript. CL and PP assisted in conducting the RT-qPCR experiments. CL performed protein 3D structure and function predictions of ZTWCO-1 and ZTWCO-2 protein interactions. SJK, JL and ZL conducted the yeast two-hybrid assays. HG carried out visual inspection of the ZtWco-1, ZtWco-2 and ZtFrq sequences. AMB provided the IPO323 and Δztwco-1 strains as well as feedback on the manuscript. AF contributed to the experimental design, analysis and provided feedback on the manuscript. AMMT was supported by a Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme award (GOIPD/2018/461) and the BBSRC SWBio Doctoral Training Partnership. This work was performed under DEFRA licence number 51046-198767 and EPA GMO Register No. G0555-01 and G0647-01. Publisher Copyright: © 2022

PY - 2022/6/14

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N2 - The fungus Zymoseptoria tritici causes Septoria Tritici Blotch (STB), which is one of the most devastating diseases of wheat in Europe. There are currently no fully durable methods of control against Z. tritici, so novel strategies are urgently required. One of the ways in which fungi are able to respond to their surrounding environment is through the use of photoreceptor proteins which detect light signals. Although previous evidence suggests that Z. tritici can detect light, no photoreceptor genes have been characterised in this pathogen. This study characterises ZtWco-1, a predicted photoreceptor gene in Z. tritici. The ZtWco-1 gene is a putative homolog to the blue light photoreceptor from Neurospora crassa, wc-1. Z. tritici mutants with deletions in ZtWco-1 have defects in hyphal branching, melanisation and virulence on wheat. In addition, we identify the putative circadian clock gene ZtFrq in Z. tritici. This study provides evidence for the genetic regulation of light detection in Z. tritici and it open avenues for future research into whether this pathogen has a circadian clock.

AB - The fungus Zymoseptoria tritici causes Septoria Tritici Blotch (STB), which is one of the most devastating diseases of wheat in Europe. There are currently no fully durable methods of control against Z. tritici, so novel strategies are urgently required. One of the ways in which fungi are able to respond to their surrounding environment is through the use of photoreceptor proteins which detect light signals. Although previous evidence suggests that Z. tritici can detect light, no photoreceptor genes have been characterised in this pathogen. This study characterises ZtWco-1, a predicted photoreceptor gene in Z. tritici. The ZtWco-1 gene is a putative homolog to the blue light photoreceptor from Neurospora crassa, wc-1. Z. tritici mutants with deletions in ZtWco-1 have defects in hyphal branching, melanisation and virulence on wheat. In addition, we identify the putative circadian clock gene ZtFrq in Z. tritici. This study provides evidence for the genetic regulation of light detection in Z. tritici and it open avenues for future research into whether this pathogen has a circadian clock.

U2 - 10.1016/j.fgb.2022.103715

DO - 10.1016/j.fgb.2022.103715

M3 - Article (Academic Journal)

C2 - 35709910

SN - 1087-1845

VL - 161

JO - Fungal Genetics and Biology

JF - Fungal Genetics and Biology

M1 - 103715

ER -

The Zymoseptoria tritici white collar-1 gene, ZtWco-1, is required for development and virulence on wheat

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