This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Rollins, J. A.
Right arrow Articles by Dickman, M. B.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Rollins, J. A.
Right arrow Articles by Dickman, M. B.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Rollins, J. A.
Right arrow Articles by Dickman, M. B.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, January 2001, p. 75-81, Vol. 67, No. 1
0099-2240/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/AEM.67.1.75-81.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

pH Signaling in Sclerotinia sclerotiorum: Identification of a pacC/RIM1 Homolog

Jeffrey A. Rollinsdagger and Martin B. Dickman*

Department of Plant Pathology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska 68583

Received 11 February 2000/Accepted 4 October 2000

Sclerotinia sclerotiorum acidifies its ambient environment by producing oxalic acid. This production of oxalic acid during plant infection has been implicated as a primary determinant of pathogenicity in this and other phytopathogenic fungi. We found that ambient pH conditions affect multiple processes in S. sclerotiorum. Exposure to increasing alkaline ambient pH increased the oxalic acid accumulation independent of carbon source, sclerotial development was favored by acidic ambient pH conditions but inhibited by neutral ambient pH, and transcripts encoding the endopolygalacturonase gene pg1 accumulated maximally under acidic culture conditions. We cloned a putative transcription factor-encoding gene, pac1, that may participate in a molecular signaling pathway for regulating gene expression in response to ambient pH. The three zinc finger domains of the predicted Pac1 protein are similar in sequence and organization to the zinc finger domains of the A. nidulans pH-responsive transcription factor PacC. The promoter of pac1 contains eight PacC consensus binding sites, suggesting that this gene, like its homologs, is autoregulated. Consistent with this suggestion, the accumulation of pac1 transcripts paralleled increases in ambient pH. Pac1 was determined to be a functional homolog of PacC by complementation of an A. nidulans pacC-null strain with pac1. Our results suggest that ambient pH is a regulatory cue for processes linked to pathogenicity, development, and virulence and that these processes may be under the molecular regulation of a conserved pH-dependent signaling pathway analogous to that in the nonpathogenic fungus A. nidulans.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Plant Pathology, 406 Plant Sciences Hall, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68583-0722. Phone: (402) 472-2849. Fax: (402) 472-2853. E-mail: mdickman{at}unlnotes.unl.edu.

dagger Present address: Department of Plant Pathology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-0680.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, January 2001, p. 75-81, Vol. 67, No. 1
0099-2240/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/AEM.67.1.75-81.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Li, M., Rollins, J. A. (2009). The development-specific protein (Ssp1) from sclerotinia Sclerotiorum is encoded by a novel gene expressed exclusively in sclerotium tissues.. Mycologia 101: 34-43 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Wu, B.M., Peng, Y.-L, Qin, Q.-M, Subbarao, K.V. (2007). Incubation of excised apothecia enhances ascus maturation of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. Mycologia 99: 33-41 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Arechiga-Carvajal, E. T., Ruiz-Herrera, J. (2005). The RIM101/pacC Homologue from the Basidiomycete Ustilago maydis Is Functional in Multiple pH-Sensitive Phenomena. Eukaryot Cell 4: 999-1008 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Fomina, M., Hillier, S., Charnock, J. M., Melville, K., Alexander, I. J., Gadd, G. M. (2005). Role of Oxalic Acid Overexcretion in Transformations of Toxic Metal Minerals by Beauveria caledonica. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 71: 371-381 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Flaherty, J. E., Pirttila, A. M., Bluhm, B. H., Woloshuk, C. P. (2003). PAC1, a pH-Regulatory Gene from Fusarium verticillioides. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 69: 5222-5227 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Ramon, A. M., Fonzi, W. A. (2003). Diverged Binding Specificity of Rim101p, the Candida albicans Ortholog of PacC. Eukaryot Cell 2: 718-728 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Drori, N., Kramer-Haimovich, H., Rollins, J., Dinoor, A., Okon, Y., Pines, O., Prusky, D. (2003). External pH and Nitrogen Source Affect Secretion of Pectate Lyase by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 69: 3258-3262 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Penalva, M. A., Arst, H. N. Jr. (2002). Regulation of Gene Expression by Ambient pH in Filamentous Fungi and Yeasts. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 66: 426-446 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»