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REVIEW article

Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microbe and Virus Interactions with Plants
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1463987
This article is part of the Research Topic Microbe-Induced Regulation of Plant Immunity Against Phytopathogens View all 11 articles

Epigenetic Modulation of Fungal Pathogens: A Focus on Magnaporthe oryzae

Provisionally accepted
Hafiz Muhammad Usman Aslam Hafiz Muhammad Usman Aslam 1,2*Mohamad Chikh Ali Mohamad Chikh Ali 1Xin-Gen Zhou Xin-Gen Zhou 3Shouan Zhang Shouan Zhang 4Steven Harris Steven Harris 5Ashok Chanda Ashok Chanda 6Hasan Riaz Hasan Riaz 2Akhtar Hameed Akhtar Hameed 2Saba Aslam Saba Aslam 7Nabil Killiny Nabil Killiny 8*
  • 1 Department of Plant Pathology, San Luis Valley Research Center, Colorado State University, Center, United States
  • 2 Institute of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture & Environmental Science, Muhammad Nawaz Shareef University of Agriculture, Multan, Punjab, Pakistan
  • 3 Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, Texas A&M University, Beaumont, United States
  • 4 Department of Plant Pathology, Tropical Research and Education Center, University of Florida, IFAS, USA., Homestead, United States
  • 5 Department of Plant Pathology, Entomology and Microbiology, Iowa State University, Ames, United States
  • 6 Department of Plant Pathology and Northwest Research and Outreach Center, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Crookston, United States
  • 7 Department of Plant Pathology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan
  • 8 Department of Plant Pathology, Citrus Research and Education Center, University of Florida, IFAS, USA., Lake Alfred, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Epigenetics has emerged as a potent field of study for understanding the factors influencing the effectiveness of human disease treatments and for identifying alternations induced by pathogens in host plants. However, there has been a paucity of research on the epigenetic control of the proliferation and pathogenicity of fungal plant pathogens. Fungal plant pathogens such as Magnaporthe oryzae, a significant threat to global rice production, provide an important model for exploring how epigenetic mechanisms govern fungal proliferation and virulence. In M. oryzae, epigenetic alterations, such as DNA methylation, histone modification, and non-coding RNAs, regulate gene expression patterns that influence the pathogen's ability to infect its host. These modifications can enhance fungal adaptability, allowing the pathogen to survive in diverse environments and evade host immune responses. Our primary objective is to provide a comprehensive review of the existing epigenetic research on M. oryzae and shed light on how these changes influence the pathogen's lifecycle, its ability to invade host tissues, and the overall severity of the disease. We begin by examining the epigenetic alterations occurring in M. oryzae and their contributions to the virulence and proliferation of the fungus. To advance our understanding of epigenetic mechanisms in M. oryzae and similar plant diseases, we emphasize the need to address unanswered questions and explore future research directions. This information is crucial for developing new antifungal treatments that target epigenetic pathways, which could lead to improved disease management.

    Keywords: Genomics, Strain improvement, Filamentous fungi, extracellular enzymes, Pathogen-induced epigenetic changes.

    Received: 12 Jul 2024; Accepted: 10 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Aslam, Ali, Zhou, Zhang, Harris, Chanda, Riaz, Hameed, Aslam and Killiny. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Hafiz Muhammad Usman Aslam, Department of Plant Pathology, San Luis Valley Research Center, Colorado State University, Center, United States
    Nabil Killiny, Department of Plant Pathology, Citrus Research and Education Center, University of Florida, IFAS, USA., Lake Alfred, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.