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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, September 2006, p. 6345-6354, Vol. 72, No. 9
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/AEM.00988-06
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Laboratory of Plant Pathology, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
Received 26 April 2006/ Accepted 14 July 2006
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We previously identified ClaPEX6 (hereafter referred to as PEX6) encoding a protein involved in peroxisome biogenesis through analysis of nonpathogenic mutants of C. lagenarium generated by plasmid insertional mutagenesis (12). Knockout analysis of the PEX6 gene demonstrated that it is required for fungal pathogenicity in C. lagenarium. The pex6 deletion mutant formed small appressoria with severely reduced melanization that failed to generate penetration hyphae. Melanin is a secondary metabolite required for appressorium function in fungal pathogens, such as Colletotrichum and Magnaporthe species (10, 14). These data suggest that peroxisomal metabolic functions are required for appressorium functionality, especially for appressorial melanization. However, it remains to be elucidated how peroxisomal metabolic pathways contribute to the pathogenicity of C. lagenarium. Peroxisomes typically contain enzymes for reactions involving molecular oxygen and for metabolizing hydrogen peroxide. Another important feature of peroxisomes is the site of ß-oxidation of fatty acids. The pex6 mutant of C. lagenarium consistently failed to utilize fatty acids for vegetative growth, suggesting that the mutant had a defect in the ß-oxidation of fatty acids in its peroxisomes (12).
Utilization of lipids as the sole or main carbon source presupposes a requirement of the glyoxylate cycle to provide hexose residues for nucleotide, cell wall, and amino acid biosynthesis. Enzymes involved in the glyoxylate cycle are suggested to localize in peroxisomes in fungi, including Yarrowia lipolytica (13, 32, 33), whereas Saccharomyces cerevisiae isocitrate lyase (ICL1), a key component of the glyoxylate cycle, is solely cytosolic, even under growth conditions that induce peroxisome proliferation (29). The significance of the glyoxylate cycle for fungal pathogenicity was first underscored by the requirement of isocitrate lyase for the virulence of the pathogenic yeast Candida albicans in mouse (15). Additionally, in the pathogenic bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis, disruption of the isocitrate lyase gene attenuated bacterial persistence and virulence in immunocompetent mice (16). It has also been reported that ICL1 is required for pathogenicity in Leptosphaeria maculans, a pathogen of canola, and the rice blast fungus M. grisea (11, 34) and that malate synthase, another key enzyme of the glyoxylate cycle, is required for pathogenicity of the wheat pathogen Stagonospora nodorum (20).
In this report, to investigate roles of the glyoxylate cycle in C. lagenarium, we isolated and functionally characterized the C. lagenarium ICL1 gene, which encodes isocitrate lyase. We show that ICL1-encoded isocitrate lyase is required for the utilization of fatty acids and acetate for growth and that this enzyme distinctly localizes in peroxisomes during fungal infection. Importantly, in contrast to the pex6 mutant, icl1 knockout mutants formed appressoria that were highly pigmented with melanin, suggesting that the glyoxylate cycle in peroxisomes is not essential for appressorial melanization. However, the icl1 mutant exhibited reduced virulence on its host cucumber plant, suggesting that ICL1 in C. lagenarium is involved in fungal infection.
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Plasmid constructs.
ICL1 was mutated using an adaptation of the in vitro transposon tagging procedure previously described (8). A cosmid clone, pD4SNF1, containing ICL1 was used as the target. A gene disruption vector, pKOICL1, was constructed by mobilizing the modified Tn7 transposable element containing the hygromycin-phosphotransferase gene cassette (the GPS-HYG transposon) into pD4SNF1 in vitro (see Fig. 2A). The sequences of the transposon-inserted regions were determined using primers TN7L (5'-ATAATCCTTAAAAACTCCATTTCCACCCCT-3') and TN7R (5'-ACTTTATTGTCATAGTTTAGATCTATTTTG-3'). In pKOICL1, the transposon was inserted into the ICL1 sequence at nucleotide 1314 (amino acid residue 419) (Fig. 1). For analysis of the subcellular localization of Icl1, the plasmid pHGFPICL1, carrying the GFP-ICL1 fusion gene, was constructed. Expression of GFP-ICL1 was controlled by a 221-bp short promoter region of the melanin gene SCD1 because expression of green fluorescent protein (GFP) under the SCD1 short promoter resulted in constitutive GFP fluorescence at all fungal stages examined (28). pCB16EGFPSP was previously constructed by the introduction of enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) and the SCD1 short promoter into pCB1636, containing the hph gene (22, 28). The SCD1 terminator region was amplified with primers SD1THS and SD1TCA (12). The amplified product was digested with HindIII and ClaI and introduced into pCB16EGFPSP, which resulted in pCB16EGFPSPST. The entire ICL1 open reading frame was amplified from pD4SNF1 with the primers ICL1FSB (5'-CGGGATCCCCGCGAACAACATGGTCAACT-3') and ICL1FASE (5'-CGGCGGAATTCCTAGTGGAATTGGTCCTCCGT-3'). ICL1FSB and ICL1FASE contain a BamHI site and EcoRI site, respectively. The amplified product was digested with BamHI and EcoRI and introduced into pCB16EGFPSPST to produce pHGFPICL1. For introduction of pHGFPICL1 into the icl1 mutant DIC1, pHGFPICL1 and pCB1531 carrying a bialaphos-resistant gene (22) were cotransformed into DIC1, and bialaphos-resistant transformants were isolated. Among them, the transformants carrying the GFP-ICL1 fusion gene were selected by PCR analysis. For expression of mRFP1 carrying PTS1, the entire open reading frame of mRFP1 was amplified from mRFP1 in pRSET1b with primers MRFPXKZ (5'-GCC CTCTAGACCAGACACAATGGCCTCCTCCGAGGACGTCATC-3') and MRFPPTS1B (5'-GGCGGATCCTTACAGCTTCGAGGCGCCGGTGGAGTGGCGGCC-3'). pBATP was previously constructed by the introduction of the SCD1 promoter and terminator regions into pCB1531 (12). The amplified product was digested with XbaI and BamHI and introduced into pBATP. The resultant plasmid was designated pBATPMRPTS1. Each PCR amplification was performed with KOD Plus DNA polymerase (Toyobo, Tsuruga, Japan) according to the manufacturer's instructions. pBATPMRPTS1 was introduced into the wild-type strain 104-T, and the transformant MRPTS1 expressing mRFP1 was isolated.
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FIG. 2. Gene disruption of ICL1. (A) ICL1 locus and the ICL1 gene disruption vector pKOICL1. pKOICL1 was generated by insertion of the GPS-HYG transposon carrying a hygromycin phosphotransferase (hph) gene into ICL1 in the genomic clone pD4SNF1 containing ICL1. (B) DNA gel blot analysis of the icl1 mutant. Genomic DNAs were isolated from the wild-type strain 104-T (lane 1) and the icl1 mutant strains DIC1 and DIC2 (lanes 2 and 3). Genomic DNAs were digested with XhoI. The blot was hybridized with a 2.0-kb fragment containing ICL1, indicated by the black bar in panel A.
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FIG. 1. The C. lagenarium ICL1 gene, which encodes isocitrate lyase. Sequence alignment of C. lagenarium (C.l.) isocitrate lyase with that of N. crassa (N.c.) and M. grisea (M.g.). Amino acid sequences were aligned using the Clustal W program (31). Identical amino acids are indicated as white letters on black background, similar residues are indicated on gray background, and gaps introduced for alignments are indicated by hyphens. The GPS-HYG insertion site is indicated by an arrow.
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Assay for appressorium formation and penetration.
Infection-related morphogenesis, including germination and appressorium formation on glass, was observed as described previously (28). Nitrocellulose membranes prepared from Visking cellulose tubing were used as a model substrate (14). For the assay on penetration into the membrane, conidial suspensions were poured onto pieces of the membrane placed in petri dishes. Samples were incubated for 2 days and observed under light microscopy. To assess appressorium formation and subsequent invasion of the host plant, conidial suspensions were spotted onto the lower epidermis of cucumber cotyledons. The epidermal layers of inoculated cotyledons were peeled off and observed under light microscopy. To observe intracellular penetration hyphae, the epidermal layers were stained with lactophenol aniline blue (26).
Fluorescent microscopy.
To assess papilla formation, the nonhost plant Arabidopsis thaliana Col-0 was inoculated with a conidial suspension of the icl1 mutant (5 x 105 conidia per ml), as previously reported (19). Inoculated plants were placed in a plant growth box (CUL-JAR300; Iwaki, Japan) at 25°C for 24 h. To determine the presence of callose deposits, samples were stained with aniline blue as described by Adam and Somerville (1). Material was mounted on a slide in 50% glycerol and examined with a fluorescence microscope (Zeiss Axioskop; Germany) with Zeiss filter set 02 (excitation, 365 nm; dichroic, 395 nm; emission, 420 nm). To stain lipid bodies, conidia were incubated in the presence of 10 µg/ml carpropamid solution on glass slides (9, 28) and stained with 2.5 µg/ml Nile red solution (7). Nile Red fluorescence, mRFP1 fluorescence, and EGFP fluorescence were observed using an Olympus FluoView FV500 confocal microscope (Olympus Optical Co., Tokyo, Japan) equipped with an argon laser, an He:Ne laser, and a 60x Plan Apo (1.4 numerical aperture) oil immersion objective lens. The samples were excited with the argon laser for EGFP and with the He:Ne laser for Nile red and mRFP1. We used a dichroic mirror, DM488/543, a beam splitter, SDM560, and two emission filters, BA505-525 for EGFP and BA560IF for Nile red and mRFP1.
Nucleotide sequence accession number.
Accession no. AB246699 in the GenBank database contains the DNA sequence for the ICL1 gene from C. lagenarium.
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TABLE 1. Characteristics of the icl1 mutantsa
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FIG. 3. The icl1 mutant is unable to utilize acetate or fatty acids as the sole carbon source for growth. Growth abilities of the wild-type strain, 104-T, the icl1 strain, DIC1, and the pex6 strain, DPE1, were assessed on glucose, acetate, and fatty acid media as sole carbon sources. The tested strains were incubated for 24 days. a, 104-T; b, DIC1; c, DPE1.
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FIG. 4. ICL1-encoded isocitrate lyase localizes in the peroxisomes of C. lagenarium. (A) The GFP-ICL1 fusion gene complemented growth of the icl1 mutant on fatty acids. The GFP-ICL1 fusion gene was introduced into the icl1 mutant DIC, and the transformant GIC possessing the fusion gene was isolated. The tested strains were grown on fatty acid medium for 25 days. a, the wild-type strain, 104-T; b, the icl1 mutant, DIC1; c, the complemented strain, GIC1, with the GFP-ICL1 gene. (B) Subcellular localization of GFP-Icl1 in conidia. The GFP-ICL1 fusion gene was introduced into the MRPTS1 strain, which expresses mRFP1-PTS1. mRFP1 and GFP fluorescence was investigated in preincubated conidia of the MRPTS1 strain (left panels) and the GFP-ICL1-introduced transformant of MRPTS1 (right panels). The GFP-Icl1 fusion protein colocalized with mRFP1-PTS1. Bars = 5 µm. (C) Localization of GFP-Icl1 in appressoria. For induction of appressorium formation, conidia of GIC1 were incubated on glass. The fluorescence of GFP-Icl1 was investigated after 6 h of incubation when conidia formed melanized appressoria. Ap, appressorium; Co, conidium. Bars = 5 µm.
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FIG. 5. ICL1 is not essential for appressorial melanization and lipolysis. (A) Appressoria formed by the icl1 and pex6 mutants. Conidial suspensions from the wild-type strain, 104-T, the icl1 strain, DIC1, and the pex6 strain, DPE1, were spotted on glass and incubated at 24°C for 16 h. Bars = 10 µm. (B) Lipid bodies in appressoria of the wild-type strain, icl1 mutants, and pex6 mutants. Conidia of each strain were incubated on glass with the melanin biosynthesis inhibitor, carpropamid, for 24 h, and lipid bodies were stained with Nile red. 104-T, wild-type (W.t.) strain; DIC1, icl1 strain; DPE1, pex6 strain. Bars = 10 µm.
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FIG. 6. ICL1 is required for fungal virulence of C. lagenarium. (A) Pathogenicity test of the icl1 mutants. Conidial suspensions of tested strains were spotted onto detached cucumber cotyledons. On the left half of the cotyledons, the wild-type (W.t.) strain 104-T was inoculated as a positive control. On the right half, the icl1 mutant DIC1 (the left cotyledon) or the complemented strain GIC1 carrying GFP-ICL1 (the right cotyledon) was inoculated. Inoculated plants were incubated at 25°C for 8 days. (B) Inoculation assay of a wounded cucumber leaf. Conidial suspensions of DIC1 were inoculated on the right half of the cucumber leaf. The albino mutant ALB1 (pks1) was inoculated as a control on the left half of the cucumber leaf. The inoculated plant was incubated at 25°C for 6 days.
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FIG. 7. The icl1 mutants have a defect in appressorium-mediated host invasion. (A) The icl1 mutants failed to generate intracellular penetration hyphae into cucumber cotyledons. Conidial suspensions of each strain were inoculated on the lower surface of cucumber cotyledons, and cotyledons were incubated for 4 days. Bars = 10 µm. Ap, appressorium; Ph, penetration hypha. (B) Results of a quantitative assay for appressorial penetration. In each experiment, at least 100 appressoria were examined and counted to calculate the percentage of penetration hyphae formed. Means and standard deviations were calculated from three independent experiments. (C) Deposition of papillary callose under appressoria formed by the icl1 mutant. The icl1 mutant was inoculated on the nonhost plant, A. thaliana. At 1 dpi, callose deposits in papillae were stained with aniline blue. Bar = 10 µm. Pc, papillary callose. (D) Results of an appressorial penetration assay with nitrocellulose membranes. A conidial suspension of each strain was inoculated on nitrocellulose membranes and incubated for 2 days. Ap, appressorium; Ph, penetration hypha. Bars = 20 µm.
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FIG. 8. Restoration of virulence in icl1 mutants. (A) Pathogenicity of the icl1 mutants was partially remedied by the addition of saccharides. Conidia of the icl1 mutant DIC1 suspended in 1 mM glucose or sucrose solution were drop inoculated on the right half of cucumber cotyledons. The left halves of cucumber cotyledons were inoculated with conidia of DIC1 suspended in water. Inoculated plants were incubated at 25°C for 8 days. (B) Heat shock treatment of the host plant enabled the icl1 mutant to infect. Cucumber cotyledons pretreated at 50°C for 30 s were inoculated with conidial suspensions of the icl11 mutant. Inoculated plants were incubated at 25°C for 6 days. As a control, cotyledons were treated at 25°C for 30 s before inoculation.
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Colocalization of the GFP-Icl1 fusion proteins with mRFP1-PTS1 indicated that the ICL1-encoded isocitrate lyase is localized in peroxisomes; however, the amino acid sequence of C. lagenarium Icl1 revealed that Icl1 has neither typical PTS1 nor PTS2. The isocitrate lyases of N. crassa and M. grisea also lack typical PTS1 and PTS2 (Fig. 1) (6, 34). However, density gradient centrifugation analysis implied that isocitrate lyases of N. crassa and Aspergillus nidulans are located in peroxisomes (13, 33), suggesting that isocitrate lyases of filamentous fungi are commonly localized in peroxisomes. The mechanism for targeting C. lagenarium Icl1 to peroxisomes remains unclear. Icl1 could be transported into peroxisomes by a piggyback mechanism, i.e., transportation via interaction with a protein carrying PTS. Alternatively, Icl1 might possess an unidentified signal sequence that is used to target peroxisomes. In contrast with Icl1 of C. lagenarium, isocitrate lyases of S. cerevisiae are cytosolic, even under growth conditions that induce peroxisome proliferation (29). In C. lagenarium, the icl1 mutant is unable to grow on acetate medium, whereas the pex6 mutant grows slightly on this medium (Fig. 3). Icl1 of the pex6 mutant might locate in the cytosol and partially function in the glyoxylate cycle. However, the growth ability of the pex6 mutant on acetate medium was lower than that of the wild-type strain. Thus, it is likely that the localization of Icl1 in peroxisomes is important for the efficiency of the glyoxylate cycle in C. lagenarium.
The ß-oxidation of fatty acids is a well-conserved metabolic process that degrades fatty acids to acetyl-CoA. It is likely that rapid lipolysis produces fatty acids, and the fatty acids that are generated are subjected to ß-oxidation in peroxisomes to produce acetyl-CoA during appressorium formation in C. lagenarium (12, 35). Functional analysis of PEX6 revealed that it plays a role in peroxisomal metabolic function for appressorium-mediated infection, especially the melanization of appressoria (12). In contrast, the icl1 mutants formed melanized appressoria, suggesting that the glyoxylate cycle is not essential for appressorial melanization in C. lagenarium. This finding suggests that acetyl-CoA, generated by ß-oxidation of fatty acids, is transported from peroxisomes into the cytosol via carnitine acetyltransferase and is utilized for melanin biosynthesis in appressoria. Consistent with this idea, PTH2, which encodes a putative carnitine acetyltransferase, is required for full pathogenicity of M. grisea, although detailed analysis of PTH2 has not yet been performed (23). However, we cannot currently exclude the possibility that the glyoxylate cycle partially contributes to appressorial melanization in C. lagenarium. The pex6 mutants did not undergo efficient lipolysis during infection-related morphogenesis, suggesting that peroxisomal function is involved in the regulation of lipid metabolism in the fungal infection process. However, in contrast to the pex6 mutant, impaired lipolysis was not observed in the icl1 mutant, suggesting that disruption of Icl1 involved in the glyoxylate cycle did not have an obvious effect on the regulation of lipolysis. We consider that the ß-oxidation pathway for fatty acids is associated with the regulation of lipolysis during appressorium formation; however, it remains unclear how this metabolic pathway affects lipolysis.
The icl1 mutants of M. grisea exhibited delayed germination and appressorium development in comparison with the wild-type strain (34). In contrast, the C. lagenarium icl1 mutant germinated and formed appressoria without delay. Contribution of the glyoxylate cycle to infection-related morphogenesis seems to be uncommon among these pathogens. The glyoxylate cycle provides a means for cells to assimilate two-carbon compounds into the tricarboxylic acid cycle and channel these via gluconeogenesis to generate glucose. The icl1 mutants of C. lagenarium have a defect in appressorium-mediated invasion of the host plant, and the addition of glucose or sucrose partially restored virulence of the icl1 mutants. Based on these findings, we are currently considering that gluconeogenesis mediated by the glyoxylate cycle is probably important for appressorium-mediated host invasion.
The abilities of the icl1 mutant (i) to elicit papilla on A. thaliana and (ii) to penetrate into cellophane suggest that appressoria formed by the mutants retain the basic functions required for penetration. Also, a pathogenicity test of the icl1 mutant on heat-treated cucumber suggests that the impaired virulence in the icl1 mutant that we observed is likely to be associated with defense responses of the host plant. Together with partial remediation of pathogenicity in the presence of glucose, it is possible that the icl1 mutant has a defect in cell wall biosynthesis that is related to the protection of fungal cells from plant defense responses. We recently reported that the APH1 gene of C. lagenarium encodes a tRNA methylase required for appressorium-mediated host invasion (27). Heat shock treatment restored virulence of the aph1 mutant, in common with the icl1 mutant, although it remains to be elucidated how Aph1 functions in the host invasion step. Additionally, C. lagenarium formed melanized appressoria on the nonhost plant, A. thaliana; however, it failed to generate penetration hyphae, suggesting that nonhost resistance blocks appressorium-mediated invasion (19). In contrast to C. lagenarium, it is likely that the adapted Colletotrichum higginsianum suppresses preinvasion resistance of A. thaliana (19). Based on these findings, fungal factors that resist and/or suppress plant defense must be critical for successful appressorium-mediated host invasion.
In this report, we have shown that the glyoxylate cycle is required for virulence of the fungal plant pathogen C. lagenarium. It was recently reported that two isocitrate lyases (ICL1 and ICL2) are jointly required for virulence of M. tuberculosis, the etiologic agent of leprosy and tuberculosis (17). Importantly, a dual-specific isocitrate lyase inhibitor blocked the growth of M. tuberculosis on fatty acids and in macrophages, implicating glyoxylate inhibitors as new drug candidates for the treatment of tuberculosis. Our analysis, including phenotypic comparison of the icl1 mutant with the pex6 mutant, strongly suggests pivotal roles for other aspects of peroxisomal metabolism in fungal phytopathogenicity in addition to the glyoxylate cycle. Further functional analysis of other peroxisomal matrix proteins, such as enzymes involved in the ß-oxidation of fatty acids, will be important to understand the multiple roles of peroxisomes in fungal pathogenicity. This analysis will also provide useful information for the development of new drugs against plant and animal pathogens.
This work was supported in part by a Grant-in-Aid (15780035) for Young Scientists (B), a Grant-in-Aid (13306005) for Scientific Research (A) from the Japan Society of the Promotion of Science, and a Grant-in-Aid (12146202) for Scientific Research on Priority Areas from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan.
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