AUTHOR=Tang Guangfei , Xia Haoxue , Liang Jingting , Ma Zhonghua , Liu Wende 

TITLE=Spermidine Is Critical for Growth, Development, Environmental Adaptation, and Virulence in Fusarium graminearum

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2021.765398

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2021.765398

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>Putrescine, spermidine, and spermine are the most common natural polyamines. Polyamines are ubiquitous organic cations of low molecular weight and have been well characterized for the cell function and development processes of organisms. However, the physiological functions of polyamines remain largely obscure in plant pathogenic fungi. <italic>Fusarium graminearum</italic> causes Fusarium head blight (FHB) and leads to devastating yield losses and quality reduction by producing various kinds of mycotoxins. Herein, we genetically analyzed the gene function of the polyamine biosynthesis pathway and evaluated the role of the endogenous polyamines in the growth, development, and virulence of <italic>F. graminearum</italic>. Our results found that deletion of spermidine biosynthesis gene <italic>FgSPE3</italic> caused serious growth defects, reduced asexual and sexual reproduction, and increased sensitivity to various stresses. More importantly, Δ<italic>Fgspe3</italic> exhibited significantly decreased mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON) production and weak virulence in host plants. Additionally, the growth and virulence defects of Δ<italic>Fgspe3</italic> could be rescued by exogenous application of 5 mM spermidine. Furthermore, RNA-seq displayed that FgSpe3 participated in many essential biological pathways including DNA, RNA, and ribosome synthetic process. To our knowledge, these results indicate that spermidine is essential for growth, development, DON production, and virulence in <italic>Fusarium</italic> species, which provides a potential target to control FHB.</p>