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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Urbana, Illinois » Soybean/maize Germplasm, Pathology, and Genetics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #306803
Title: Genomic characterization of plant cell wall degrading enzymes and in silico analysis of xylanses and polygalacturonases of Fusarium virguliforme

Author
item CHANG, HAO XUN - University Of Illinois
item YENDREK, CRAIG - University Of Illinois
item CAETANO-ANOLLES, GUSTAVO - University Of Illinois
item Hartman, Glen

Submitted to: BMC Microbiology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/2/2016
Publication Date: 7/12/2016
Citation: Chang, H., Yendrek, C.R., Caetano-Anolles, G., Hartman, G.L. 2016. Genomic characterization of plant cell wall degrading enzymes and in silico analysis of xylanses and polygalacturonases of Fusarium virguliforme. BMC Microbiology. 16:147. doi: 10.1186/s12866-016-0761-0.

Interpretive Summary: Root rot and damping-off of soybean often result in significant yield losses due to the high mortality of seedlings. One group of the fungi responsible for causing soybean root rot is the Fusarium complex consisting of several species including the one that causes soybean sudden death syndrome. For the fungus, plant cell wall degrading enzymes are an important for invasion and uptake of nutrients. The objective of this study was to analyze the plant cell wall degrading enzymes produced by the fungus. Along with this we wanted to determine how plant inhibitors block or render the cell wall degrading enzymes produced by the fungus to be ineffective. Genomic analysis revealed 673 putative genes in the fungus belonged to six carbohydrate-active enzymes classes. The plant inhibitor proteins based on structural modeling appear to inhibit the three most important plant cell wall degrading enzymes produced by the fungus. This study is important because is shows which enzymes produced by the fungus need to be targeted for in developing resistanct plants. These results are useful for scientists interested in molecular plant-fungal interactions and biotechnologists interested in engineering soybeans for resistance to soybean pathogens.

Technical Abstract: Plant cell wall degrading enzymes (PCWDEs) are important effectors for plant pathogens to invade plants. In this study, the composition of PCWDEs in Fusarium virguliforme that were grown for 5-days and 20 days in liquid medium was determined by RNA-Seq. Differential expression analysis showed more PCWDEs up-regulated in 20 than in 5-day-old cultures. Two xylanases, FvirXyn1 and FvirXylA, and one polygalacturonase, FvirPG, were identified in the secretome of F. virguliforme. Xylanases and polygalacturonase of several Fusarium species have evolved to escape the inhibition by plant xylanase inhibitor proteins and polygalacturonase-inhibiting proteins, respectively. However, protein-protein docking results indicated that plant inhibitor proteins might still inhibit these three PCWDEs. Our study revealed a dynamic complexity of PCWDEs in response to nutrition availability in F. virguliforme and suggested the presence of three PCWDEs that might be useful as targets of heterogeneous PCWDEs inhibitor proteins in transgenic soybean.