AUTHOR=Yan Yaqin , Tang Jintian , Yuan Qinfeng , Gu Qiongnan , Liu Hao , Huang Junbin , Hsiang Tom , Zheng Lu 

TITLE=ChCDC25 Regulates Infection-Related Morphogenesis and Pathogenicity of the Crucifer Anthracnose Fungus Colletotrichum higginsianum

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=11

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2020.00763

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2020.00763

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>The fungal pathogen, <italic>Colletotrichum higginsianum</italic>, causes a disease called anthracnose on various cruciferous plants. Here, we characterized a <italic>Saccharomyces cerevisiae CDC</italic>25 ortholog in <italic>C. higginsianum</italic>, named <italic>ChCDC25</italic> (CH063_04363). The <italic>ChCDC25</italic> deletion mutants were defective in mycelial growth, conidiation, conidial germination, appressorial formation, and invasive hyphal growth on <italic>Arabidopsis</italic> leaves, resulting in loss of virulence. Furthermore, deletion of <italic>ChCDC25</italic> led to increased sensitivity to cell wall stress and resulted in resistance to osmotic stress. Exogenous cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) and IBMX treatments were able to induce appressorial formation in the <italic>ChCDC25</italic> mutants, but abnormal germ tubes were still formed. The results implied that <italic>ChCDC25</italic> is involved in pathogenicity by regulation of cAMP signaling pathways in <italic>C. higginsianum</italic>. More importantly, we found that ChCDC25 may interact with Ras2 and affects Ras2 protein abundance in <italic>C. higginsianum</italic>. Taken together, <italic>ChCDC25</italic> regulates infection-related morphogenesis and pathogenicity of <italic>C. higginsianum.</italic> This is the first report to reveal functions of a <italic>CDC</italic>25 ortholog in a hemibiotrophic phytopathogen.</p>