Novel Secretory Protein Ss-Caf1 of the Plant-Pathogenic Fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum Is Required for Host Penetration and Normal Sclerotial Development

Novel Secretory Protein Ss-Caf1 of the Plant-Pathogenic Fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum Is Required for Host Penetration and Normal Sclerotial Development

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To decipher the mechanism of pathogenicity Floor Sealer in Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, a pathogenicity-defective mutant, Sunf-MT6, was isolated from a T-DNA insertional library.Sunf-MT6 could not form compound appressorium and failed to induce lesions on leaves of rapeseed though it could produce more oxalic acid than the wild-type strain.However, it could enter into host tissues via wounds and cause typical necrotic lesions.Furthermore, Sunf-MT6 produced fewer but larger sclerotia than the wild-type strain Sunf-M.

A gene, named Ss-caf1, was disrupted by T-DNA insertion in Sunf-MT6.Gene complementation and knockdown experiments confirmed that the disruption of Ss-caf1 was responsible for the phenotypic changes of Sunf-MT6.Ss-caf1 encodes a secretory protein with a putative Ca2+-binding EF-hand motif.High expression Collections levels of Ss-caf1 were observed at an early stage of compound appressorium formation and in immature sclerotia.

Expression of Ss-caf1 without signal peptides in Nicotiana benthamiana via Tobacco rattle virus-based vectors elicited cell death.These results suggest that Ss-caf1 plays an important role in compound appressorium formation and sclerotial development of S.sclerotiorum.In addition, Ss-Caf1 has the potential to interact with certain host proteins or unknown substances in host cells, resulting in subsequent host cell death.