The Ustilago hordei–Barley Interaction is a Versatile System for Characterization of Fungal Effectors

Autor: Bilal Ökmen, Daniela Schwammbach, Guus Bakkeren, Ulla Neumann, Gunther Doehlemann
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Zdroj: Journal of Fungi, Vol 7, Iss 2, p 86 (2021)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2309-608X
DOI: 10.3390/jof7020086
Popis: Obligate biotrophic fungal pathogens, such as Blumeria graminis and Puccinia graminis, are amongst the most devastating plant pathogens, causing dramatic yield losses in many economically important crops worldwide. However, a lack of reliable tools for the efficient genetic transformation has hampered studies into the molecular basis of their virulence or pathogenicity. In this study, we present the Ustilago hordei–barley pathosystem as a model to characterize effectors from different plant pathogenic fungi. We generate U. hordei solopathogenic strains, which form infectious filaments without the presence of a compatible mating partner. Solopathogenic strains are suitable for heterologous expression system for fungal virulence factors. A highly efficient Crispr/Cas9 gene editing system is made available for U. hordei. In addition, U. hordei infection structures during barley colonization are analyzed using transmission electron microscopy, showing that U. hordei forms intracellular infection structures sharing high similarity to haustoria formed by obligate rust and powdery mildew fungi. Thus, U. hordei has high potential as a fungal expression platform for functional studies of heterologous effector proteins in barley.
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