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MoCpa1-mediated arginine biosynthesis is crucial for fungal growth, conidiation, and plant infection of Magnaporthe oryzae

  • Applied Genetics and Molecular Biotechnology
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Abstract

Arginine is an important amino acid involved in processes such as cell signal transduction, protein synthesis, and sexual reproduction. To understand the biological roles of arginine biosynthesis in pathogenic fungi, we used Cpa1, the carbamoyl phosphate synthase arginine-specific small chain subunit in Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a query to identify its ortholog in the Magnaporthe oryzae genome and named it MoCpa1. MoCpa1 is a 471-amino acid protein containing a CPSase_sm_chain domain and a GATase domain. MoCpa1 transcripts were highly expressed at the conidiation, early-infection, and late-infection stages of the fungus. Targeted deletion of the MoCPA1 gene resulted in a ΔMocpa1 mutant exhibiting arginine auxotrophy on minimum culture medium (MM), confirming its role in de novo arginine biosynthesis. The ΔMocpa1 mutant presented significantly decreased sporulation with some of its conidia being defective in morphology. Furthermore, the ΔMocpa1 mutant was nonpathogenic on rice and barley leaves, which was a result of defects in appressorium-mediated penetration and restricted invasive hyphal growth within host cells. Addition of exogenous arginine partially rescued conidiation and pathogenicity defects on the barley and rice leaves, while introduction of the MoCPA1 gene into the ΔMocpa1 mutant fully complemented the lost phenotype. Further confocal microscopy examination revealed that MoCpa1 is localized in the mitochondria. In summary, our results demonstrate that MoCpa1-mediated arginine biosynthesis is crucial for fungal development, conidiation, appressorium formation, and infection-related morphogenesis in M. oryzae, thus serving as an attractive target for mitigating obstinate fungal plant pathogens.

Key points

• MoCpa1 is important for aerial hyphal growth and arginine biosynthesis.

• MoCpa1 is pivotal for conidial morphogenesis and appressorium formation.

• MoCpa1 is crucial for full virulence in M. oryzae.

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Data availability

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article and its supplemental information files.

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Funding

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31770156) to Z. W., Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31601584) to W. T., and Special Fund for Science and Technology Innovation of Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University (CXZX2019007G) to W. T. We are grateful to Dr. Justice Norvienyeku and Prof. Stefan Olsson for advice and discussion on the project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fujian Universities Key Laboratory for Plant-Microbe Interaction, College of Plant Protection, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350002, China

    Osakina Aron, Anjago Wilfred Mabeche, Batool Wajjiha, Meiqin Li, Yan Cai, Tian Zhang, Yunxi Li, Baohua Wang, Dongmei Zhang, Zonghua Wang & Wei Tang

  2. State Key Laboratory of Ecological Pest Control for Fujian and Taiwan Crops, College of Life Science, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350002, China

    Min Wang, Shuai Yang, Haixia You & Zonghua Wang

  3. Marine and Agricultural Biotechnology Laboratory, Institute of Oceanography, Minjiang University, Fuzhou, 350108, China

    Zonghua Wang

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  1. Osakina Aron
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  2. Min Wang
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  3. Anjago Wilfred Mabeche
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Contributions

OA and MW conducted experiments and analyzed the data. AWM, BW, SY, HY, ML, YC, TZ, and YL helped to prepare the experimental materials. OA wrote the manuscript; OA, ZW, and WT conceived and designed research and analyzed the data. BW, DZ, ZW, and WT helped to modify the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Zonghua Wang or Wei Tang.

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Aron, O., Wang, M., Mabeche, A.W. et al. MoCpa1-mediated arginine biosynthesis is crucial for fungal growth, conidiation, and plant infection of Magnaporthe oryzae. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 105, 5915–5929 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-021-11437-1

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