The endo-arabinanase BcAra1 is a novel host-specific virulence factor of the necrotic fungal phytopathogen Botrytis cinerea.

Abstract

The plant cell wall is one of the first physical interfaces encountered by plant pathogens and consists of polysaccharides, of which arabinan is an important constituent. During infection, the necrotrophic plant pathogen Botrytis cinerea secretes a cocktail of plant cell-wall-degrading enzymes, including endo-arabinanase activity, which carries out the breakdown of arabinan. The roles of arabinan and endo-arabinanases during microbial infection were thus far elusive. In this study, the gene Bcara1 encoding for a novel α-1,5-L-endo-arabinanase was identified and the heterologously expressed BcAra1 protein was shown to hydrolyze linear arabinan with high efficiency whereas little or no activity was observed against the other oligo- and polysaccharides tested. The Bcara1 knockout mutants displayed reduced arabinanase activity in vitro and severe retardation in secondary lesion formation during infection of Arabidopsis leaves. These results indicate that BcAra1 is a novel endo-arabinanase and plays an important role during the infection of Arabidopsis. Interestingly, the level of Bcara1 transcript was considerably lower during the infection of Nicotiana benthamiana compared with Arabidopsis and, consequently, the ΔBcara1 mutants showed the wild-type level of virulence on N. benthamiana leaves. These results support the conclusion that the expression of Bcara1 is host dependent and is a key determinant of the disease outcome.

• Authors: Majse Nafisi, Maria Stranne, Lisha Zhang, Jan A L van Kan, Yumiko Sakuragi
• Journal: Molecular plant-microbe interactions : MPMI (Mol Plant Microbe Interact) Vol. 27 Issue 8 Pg. 781-92 (Aug 2014) ISSN: 0894-0282 [Print] United States
• PMID: 24725206 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Fungal Proteins
• Polysaccharides
• Recombinant Proteins
• Virulence Factors
• araban
• Glycoside Hydrolases
• alpha-N-arabinofuranosidase

Topics

• Arabidopsis (microbiology)
• Botrytis (enzymology, pathogenicity, physiology)
• Cell Wall (metabolism)
• Fungal Proteins (genetics, metabolism)
• Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic
• Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal (genetics)
• Gene Knockout Techniques
• Genome, Fungal (genetics)
• Glycoside Hydrolases (genetics, metabolism)
• Host-Pathogen Interactions
• Solanum lycopersicum (microbiology)
• Mutation
• Plant Diseases (microbiology)
• Plant Leaves (microbiology)
• Polysaccharides (metabolism)
• Recombinant Proteins
• Tobacco (microbiology)
• Virulence
• Virulence Factors (genetics, metabolism)