期刊名称:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN:0027-8424
电子版ISSN:1091-6490
出版年度:2020
卷号:117
期号:20
页码:11147-11157
DOI:10.1073/pnas.1918977117
出版社:The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要:The rhizosphere interaction between plant roots or pathogenic microbes is initiated by mutual exchange of signals. However, how soil pathogens sense host signals is largely unknown. Here, we studied early molecular events associated with host recognition in Fusarium graminearum , an economically important fungal pathogen that can infect both roots and heads of cereal crops. We found that host sensing prior to physical contact with plant roots radically alters the transcriptome and triggers nitric oxide (NO) production in F. graminearum . We identified an ankyrin-repeat domain containing protein (FgANK1) required for host-mediated NO production and virulence in F. graminearum . In the absence of host plant, FgANK1 resides in the cytoplasm. In response to host signals, FgANK1 translocates to the nucleus and interacts with a zinc finger transcription factor (FgZC1), also required for specific binding to the nitrate reductase ( NR ) promoter, NO production, and virulence in F. graminearum . Our results reveal mechanistic insights into host-recognition strategies employed by soil pathogens.