AUTHOR=Qian Hengwei , Song Limin , Wang Lulu , Wang Baoshan , Liang Wenxing 

TITLE=The secreted FoAPY1 peptidase promotes Fusarium oxysporum invasion

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=13

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2022.1040302

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2022.1040302

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>The secretion of peptidases from several pathogens has been reported, but the biological function of these proteins in plant-pathogen interactions is poorly understood. <italic>Fusarium oxysporum</italic>, a soil-borne plant pathogenic fungus that causes <italic>Fusarium</italic> wilt in its host, can secrete proteins into host plant cells during the infection process to interfere with the host plant defense response and promote disease occurrence. In this study, we identified a peptidase, FoAPY1, that could be secreted from <italic>F. oxysporum</italic> depending on the N-terminal signal peptide of the protein. FoAPY1 belongs to the peptidase M28 family and exerts peptidase activity <italic>in vitro</italic>. Furthermore, the <italic>FoAYP1</italic> gene knockout strain (∆FoAYP1) presented reduced virulence to tomato plants, but its mycelial growth and conidiation were unchanged. Moreover, FoAYP1 overexpression tomato seedlings exhibited enhanced susceptibility to <italic>F. oxysporum</italic> and <italic>Botrytis cinerea</italic> strains. These data demonstrated that FoAYP1 contributes to the virulence of <italic>F. oxysporum</italic> may through peptidase activity against host plant proteins.</p>