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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Peoria, Illinois » National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research » Mycotoxin Prevention and Applied Microbiology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #326607
Title: Construction and characterization of a double deletion mutant of Fusarium verticillioides lacking two putative trehalose-6-phosphate phosphatase genes

Author
item MCFARLIN, BRANDON - Bradley University
item McGovern, Christopher
item Brown, Daren
item MCQUADE, KRISTI - Bradley University

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/16/2016
Publication Date: 4/16/2016
Citation: McFarlin, B., McGovern, C.M., Brown, D.W., McQuade, K.L. 2016. Construction and characterization of a double deletion mutant of Fusarium verticillioides lacking two putative trehalose-6-phosphate phosphatase genes [abstract].

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Fusarium verticillioides is a fungal pathogen that commonly infects the stalk, ear, and kernels of corn and can produce fumonisins, a family of mycotoxins linked to disease in livestock and humans. Our goal is to characterize the role of the disaccharide trehalose in growth and stress response in F. verticillioides. Understanding this pathway might provide new targets for controlling Fusarium disease. Trehalose synthesis in fungi occurs via two steps, the first catalyzed by trehalose-6-phosphate synthase (TPS), and the second catalyzed by trehalose-6-phosphate phosphatase (TPP). Previously, we found that trehalose synthesis is completely abolished in a strain lacking TPS. We report here that a mutant strain lacking the TPS2 gene, thought to encode a TPP, retains the ability to produce trehalose, albeit at reduced levels. A search of the F. verticillioides genome identified a second possible TPP encoding gene, with homology to TPS2, referred to as TPS3, suggesting that synthesis of trehalose in the TPS2 mutant may be due to the presence of a second TPP activity. To test this possibility, we are working to generate a double deletion mutant ('TPS2/'TPS3) lacking both putative TPPs. Methods for construction of this mutant as well as preliminary characterization will be described. We will also report preliminary data on the effects of salt stress on several strains carrying deletions for genes of trehalose metabolism.