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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microbe and Virus Interactions with Plants
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1532162
This article is part of the Research Topic Unravelling Microbial Interactions in Plant Health and Disease Dynamics View all 5 articles

Genome-Wide Identification of Short-chain Dehydrogenases/Reductases (SDR) Genes and Functional Characterization of ApSDR53C2 in Melanin Biosynthesis in Arthrinium phaeospermum

Provisionally accepted
Jiao Liao Jiao Liao 1Yisi Wang Yisi Wang 1Han Liu Han Liu 2Sijia Liu Sijia Liu 1Peng Yan Peng Yan 1Hang Chen Hang Chen 1Shujiang Li Shujiang Li 1*
  • 1 College of Forestry, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
  • 2 Ganzi Institute of Forestry Research, Kangding, China

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

    Arthrinium phaeospermum can cause large areas wilted and death of Bambusa pervariabilis × Dendrocalamopsis grandis, resulting in serious ecological and economic losses. Previous studies found that the appressorium of A. phaeospermum must form to invade the host cells and cause disease. A short-chain dehydrogenase/reductase gene has been shown to maintain the osmotic pressure of the appressorium by synthesizing fungal melanin to penetrate the plant epidermis and cause disease. The SDR gene family of A. phaeospermum was found to be highly expressed during the penetration in the transcriptome sequencing results. Still, the relationship with melanin biosynthesis of A. phaeospermum is not clear. In this study, we have characterized bioinformatically SDR family of A. pheospermum and identified 180 ApSDRs. After screening six candidate ApSDRs with noticeably elevated expression during the infestation process using transcriptome sequencing, qPCR experiments revealed that ApSDR53C2 and ApSDR548U2 had the highest expression. Additionally, the knockout mutants of these two genes and their co-knockout mutant were created, as well as the corresponding backfill mutants. Phenotypic and stress conditions were examined, which demonstrated that ApSDRs are critical for the growth, development, stress response, and fungicide resistance of A. phaeospermum. The pathogenicity analysis revealed that ApSDR53C2 and ApSDR548U2 play important roles in virulence, with ApSDR53C2 having a stronger effect. A comparison of melanin synthesis levels between wild-type and ∆ApSDR53C2 strains showed that 2 ApSDR53C2 positively regulates melanin biosynthesis to promote penetration. The findings demonstrate that ApSDRs are essential for A. phaeospermum to withstand stress and facilitate melanin biosynthesis, which in turn contributes to its virulence.

    Keywords: Arthrinium phaeospermum, Bambusa pervariabilis × Dendrocalamopsis grandis, SDR, melanin, gene function

    Received: 21 Nov 2024; Accepted: 13 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Liao, Wang, Liu, Liu, Yan, Chen and Li. 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: Shujiang Li, College of Forestry, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, 611130, Sichuan Province, China

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