AUTHOR=Zhang Chengqi , Ren Xuexiang , Wang Xintong , Wan Qiong , Ding Kejian , Chen Li 

TITLE=FgRad50 Regulates Fungal Development, Pathogenicity, Cell Wall Integrity and the DNA Damage Response in Fusarium graminearum

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2019.02970

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2019.02970

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>Rad50 is a member of the double strand break repair epistasis group of proteins that play important roles in regulating DNA damage checkpoint signaling, telomere maintenance, homologous recombination and non-homologous end-joining in eukaryotes. However, the function of Rad50 in fungal plant pathogens remains unknown. In this study, we report the functional investigation of FgRad50 in the wheat head blight pathogen <italic>Fusarium graminearum</italic>. FgRad50 is an ortholog of <italic>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</italic> Rad50 that could restore the sensitivity of the yeast Rad50 mutant to DNA damage agents. The <italic>FgRad50</italic> deletion mutant (ΔFgRad50) exhibited defective vegetative growth, asexual/sexual development and virulence, as well as disrupted deoxynivalenol biosynthesis. Moreover, deletion of <italic>FgRad50</italic> resulted in hypersensitivity to DNA damage agents. Unexpectedly, FgRad50 plays a key role in responses to cell wall-damaging agents by negatively regulating phosphorylation of FgMgv1, a MAP kinase in the cell wall integrity (CWI) pathway. Taken together, these results suggest that FgRad50 plays critical roles in fungal development, virulence and secondary metabolism in <italic>F. graminearum</italic>, as well as CWI and the DNA damage response.</p>