TY  - JOUR
A1  - Zuo, Weiliang
A1  - Depotter, Jasper R. L.
A1  - Gupta, Deepak Kumar
A1  - Thines, Marco
A1  - Döhlemann, Gunther
T1  - Cross-species analysis between the maize smut fungi Ustilago maydis and Sporisorium reilianum highlights the role of transcriptional change of effector orthologs for virulence and disease
T2  - The new phytologist
N2  - The constitution and regulation of effector repertoires shape host–microbe interactions. Ustilago maydis and Sporisorium reilianum are two closely related smut fungi, which both infect maize but cause distinct disease symptoms. Understanding how effector orthologs are regulated in these two pathogens can therefore provide insights into the evolution of different infection strategies. We tracked the infection progress of U. maydis and S. reilianum in maize leaves and used two distinct infection stages for cross-species RNA-sequencing analyses. We identified 207 of 335 one-to-one effector orthologs as differentially regulated during host colonization, which might reflect the distinct disease development strategies. Using CRISPR-Cas9-mediated gene conversion, we identified two differentially expressed effector orthologs with conserved function between two pathogens. Thus, differential expression of functionally conserved genes might contribute to species-specific adaptation and symptom development. Interestingly, another differentially expressed orthogroup (UMAG_05318/Sr10075) showed divergent protein function, providing a possible case for neofunctionalization. Collectively, we demonstrated that the diversification of effector genes in related pathogens can be caused both by alteration on the transcriptional level and through functional diversification of the encoded effector proteins.
KW  - CRISPR-Cas9 gene conversion
KW  - cross-species RNA-sequencing
KW  - differentially regulated orthologs
KW  - fungal effectors
KW  - orthogroup
KW  - Sporisorium reilianum
KW  - Ustilagomaydis
Y1  - 2021
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/63959
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-639598
SN  - 1469-8137
N1  - This work was funded by the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (consolidator grant conVIRgens, ID 771035), as well as funding by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany’s Excellence Strategy-EXC-2048/1-Project ID: 390686111. WZ and JD are supported by the Research Fellowship Programme for Postdoctoral Researchers of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. MT and DKG received support from the LOEWE initiative of the government of Hesse, in the framework of the LOEWE Centre for Translational Biodiversity Genomics (TBG) and the LOEWE Cluster for Integrative Fungal Research (IPF).
VL  - 232
IS  - 2
SP  - 719
EP  - 733
PB  - Wiley-Blackwell
CY  - Oxford [u.a.]
ER  -