Abstract
Pseudocercospora fijiensis is the causal agent of the highly destructive black Sigatoka disease of banana. Previous research has focused on polyketide synthase gene clusters in the fungus, given the importance of polyketide pathways in related plant pathogenic fungi. A time course study of expression of the previously identified PKS7-1, PKS8-2, and PKS10-2 gene clusters showed high expression of all three PKS genes and the associated clustered genes in infected banana plants from 2 weeks post-inoculation through 9 weeks. Engineered transformants silenced for PKS8-2 and PKS10-2 were developed and tested for pathogenicity. Inoculation of banana plants with silencing transformants for PKS10-2 showed significant reduction in disease symptoms and severity that correlated with the degree of silencing in the conidia used for inoculation, supporting a critical role for PKS10-2 in disease development. Unlike PKS10-2, a clear role for PKS8-2 could not be determined. Two of four PKS8-2 silencing transformants showed reduced disease development, but disease did not correlate with the degree of PKS8-2 silencing in the transformants. Overall, the degree of silencing obtained for the PKS8-2 transformants was less than that obtained for the PKS10-2 transformants, which may have limited the utility of the silencing strategy to identify a role for PKS8-2 in disease. Orthologous PKS10-2 clusters had previously been identified in the related banana pathogens Pseudocercospora musae and Pseudocercospora eumusae. Genome analysis identified orthologous gene clusters to that of PKS10-2 in the newly sequenced genomes of Pseudocercospora fuligena and Pseudocercospora cruenta, pathogens of tomato and cowpea, respectively. Our results support an important role for the PKS10-2 polyketide pathway in pathogenicity of Pseudocercospora fijiensis, and suggest a possible role for this pathway in disease development by other Pseudocercospora species.
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Claims 8
Claim · model-written summary
Three fungal PKS gene clusters had high expression in infected banana from weeks 2 through 9.
- Taxon
- bananae0
- Interactor
- Pseudocercospora fijiensis
Pseudocercospora fijiensist0pathogen - Gene
- PKS genese0
- Outcome
- high expressione0
- Qualifier
- from 2 weeks post-inoculation through 9 weekse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“high expression of all three PKS genes and the associated clustered genes in infected banana plants from 2 weeks post-inoculation through 9 weeks”
t0“Pseudocercospora fijiensis”
Claim · model-written summary
Silencing PKS10-2 significantly reduced banana disease symptoms and severity.
- Taxon
- bananae0
- Treatment
- silencing transformants for PKS10-2e0
- Interactor
- Pseudocercospora fijiensisPseudocercospora fijiensist0pathogen
- Gene
- PKS10-2e0
- Outcome
- disease symptoms and severitye0
- Direction
- reductione0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Inoculation of banana plants with silencing transformants for PKS10-2 showed significant reduction in disease symptoms and severity that correlated with the degree of silencing in the conidia used for inoculation”
t0“Pseudocercospora fijiensis”
Claim · model-written summary
Disease severity correlated with the extent of PKS10-2 silencing.
Not reportedGeneDirection
Verbatim
e0“disease symptoms and severity that correlated with the degree of silencing in the conidia used for inoculation”
t0“banana”
Claim · model-written summary
Two of four PKS8-2 silencing transformants reduced disease development.
- Taxon
- bananat0
- Treatment
- PKS8-2 silencing transformantse0
- Outcome
- disease developmente0
- Direction
- reducede0
- Value
- Two of foure0
Not reportedInteractorComparator
Verbatim
e0“Two of four PKS8-2 silencing transformants showed reduced disease development”
t0“banana”
Claim · model-written summary
Disease development did not correlate with the degree of PKS8-2 silencing.
Verbatim
e0“disease did not correlate with the degree of PKS8-2 silencing in the transformants”
t0“banana”
Claim · model-written summary
PKS8-2 transformants attained less silencing than PKS10-2 transformants.
Verbatim
e0“degree of silencing obtained for the PKS8-2 transformants was less than that obtained for the PKS10-2 transformants”
t0“banana”
Claim · model-written summary
Genome analysis found PKS10-2 orthologous clusters in P. fuligena and P. cruenta.
- Taxon
- tomato
Solanum lycopersicume0 - Interactor
- Pseudocercospora fuligenaPseudocercospora fuligenae0pathogen
- Gene
- PKS10-2e0
- Outcome
- orthologous gene clusterse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Genome analysis identified orthologous gene clusters to that of PKS10-2 in the newly sequenced genomes of Pseudocercospora fuligena and Pseudocercospora cruenta, pathogens of tomato and cowpea, respectively”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors infer a role for PKS10-2 in P. fijiensis pathogenicity.
- Taxon
- bananat0
- Interactor
- Pseudocercospora fijiensisPseudocercospora fijiensise0pathogen
- Gene
- PKS10-2e0
- Outcome
- pathogenicity of Pseudocercospora fijiensise0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Our results support an important role for the PKS10-2 polyketide pathway in pathogenicity of Pseudocercospora fijiensis”
t0“banana”
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Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.