Liu S, Wei Y, Zhang SH.

BMC Microbiol. 2020 Jan 30; 20(1):23. doi: 10.1186/s12866-020-1711-4.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

The rice blast is a typical fungal disease caused by Magnaporthe oryzae, and the mitochondrial ATP-dependent Lon protease (MAP1) has been proven to be involved in blast development. We previously screened a C3HC type Zinc-finger domain protein (ZFC3), which is interacted with MAP1. The purpose of this research was to study the biological function of ZFC3 protein in M. oryzae.

RESULTS:

We first confirmed that the ZFC3-RFP fusion protein is localized within the mitochondria. The deleted mutant strains of ZFC3 (∆ZFC3) showed the enhanced expression level of mtATP6, particularly mtATP8, and almost unchanged nATP9. ΔZFC3 produces more conidia and more tolerance to multiple stressors. The knock-out strain shows more melanin accumulation suggests the susceptibility to aging. ΔZFC3 displays faster early-stage hypha infiltration involved in MAP1-mediated pathogenicity in host rice.

CONCLUSION:

These results support the view that ZFC3 is a key regulator involved in gene regulation, stress response, cell wall integrity, longevity, conidiation, infection hypha development and MAP1-mediated pathogenicity in M. oryzae.

See https://bmcmicrobiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12866-020-1711-4

Figure 1: The ZFC3 protein involves two principal domains and localizes to mitochondria. a Domain structures of the ZFC3 protein in M. oryzae and the conservative and evolutionary analysis of the ZFC3 like protein in representative fungi. b Expression and localization of ZFC3-RFP protein in M. oryzae. Vegetative hyphae expressing the ZFC3-RFP fusion protein was examined under microscope. Mito-Tracker green (green fluorescent dye as a membrane marker). Scale bar = 2 mm