• Plant Disease and Agriculture
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.9-17
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• 1995

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.87-98
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• 2021

To establish an infection, fungal pathogens must recognize diverse signals from host surfaces. The rice blast fungus, Magnaporthe oryzae, is one of the best models studying host-pathogen interactions. This fungus recognizes physical or chemical signals from the host surfaces and initiates the development of an infection structure called appressorium. Here, we found that protein MoAfo1(appressorium formation, MGG_10422) was involved in sensing signal molecules such as cutin monomers and long chain primary alcohols required for appressorium formation. The knockout mutant (ΔMoafo1) formed a few abnormal appressoria on the onion and rice sheath surfaces. However, it produced normal appressoria on the surface of rice leaves. MoAfo1 localized to the membranes of the cytoplasm and vacuole-like organelles in conidia and appressoria. Additionally, the ΔMoafo1 mutant showed defects in appressorium morphology, appressorium penetration, invasive growth, and pathogenicity. These multiple defects might be partially due to failure to respond properly to oxidative stress. These findings broaden our understanding of the fungal mechanisms at play in the recognition of the host surface during rice blast infection.

• Mycobiology
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.473-482
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• 2019

Rice blast disease, caused by the ascomycete fungus Magnaporthe oryzae, is one of the most important diseases in rice production. PAS (period circadian protein, aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator protein, single-minded protein) domains are known to be involved in signal transduction pathways, but their functional roles have not been well studied in fungi. In this study, targeted gene deletion was carried out to investigate the functional roles of the PAS-containing gene MoPAS1 (MGG_02665) in M. oryzae. The deletion mutant ΔMopas1 exhibited easily wettable mycelia, reduced conidiation, and defects in appressorium formation and disease development compared to the wild type and complemented transformant. Exogenous cAMP restored appressorium formation in ΔMopas1, but the shape of the restored appressorium was irregular, indicating that MoPAS1 is involved in sensing the hydrophobic surface. To examine the expression and localization of MoPAS1 in M. oryzae during appressorium development and plant infection, we constructed a MoPAS1:GFP fusion construct. MoPAS1:GFP was observed in conidia and germ tubes at 0 and 2 h post-infection (hpi) on hydrophobic cover slips. By 8 hpi, most of the GFP signal was observed in the appressoria. During invasive growth in host cells, MoPAS1:GFP was found to be fully expressed in not only the appressoria but also invasive hyphae, suggesting that MoPAS may contribute to disease development in host cells. These results expand our knowledge of the roles of PAS-containing regulatory genes in the plant-pathogenic fungus M. oryzae.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.103-107
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• 2019

Roles of nutrients in controlling plant diseases have been documented for a long time. Among the nutrients having impact on susceptibility/resistance to crop diseases, nitrogen is one of the most important nutrients for plant growth and development. In rice plants, excess nitrogen via fertilization in agricultural systems is known to increase susceptibility to the rice blast disease. Mechanisms underlying such phenomenon, despite its implication in yield and sustainable agriculture, have not been fully elucidated yet. A few research efforts attempted to link nitrogen-induced susceptibility to concomitant changes in rice plant and rice blast fungus in response to excess nitrogen. However, recent studies focusing on phytobiome are offering new insights into effects of nitrogen on interaction between plants and pathogens. In this review, I will first briefly describe importance of nitrogen as a key nutrient for plants and what changes excess nitrogen can bring about in rice and the fungal pathogen. Next, I will highlight some of the recent phytobiome studies relevant to nitrogen utilization and immunity of plants. Finally, I propose the hypothesis that changes in phytobiome upon excessive nitrogen fertilization contribute to nitrogen-induced susceptibility, and discuss empirical evidences that are needed to support the hypothesis.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.658-669
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• 2016

Rice blast, caused by a fungus Magnaporthe oryzae, is one of the most devastating diseases of rice worldwide. Analyzing the valuable genetic resources is important in making progress towards blast resistance. Molecular screening of major rice blast resistance (R) genes was determined in 2,509 accessions of rice germplasm from different geographic regions of Asia and Europe using PCR based markers which showed linkage to twelve major blast R genes, Pik-p, Pi39, Pit, Pik-m, Pi-d(t)2, Pii, Pib, Pik, Pita, Pita/Pita-2, Pi5, and Piz-t. Out of 2,509 accessions, only two accessions had maximum nine blast resistance genes followed by eighteen accessions each with eight R genes. The polygenic combination of three genes was possessed by maximum number of accessions (824), while among others 48 accessions possessed seven genes, 119 accessions had six genes, 267 accessions had five genes, 487 accessions had four genes, 646 accessions had two genes, and 98 accessions had single R gene. The Pik-p gene appeared to be omnipresent and was detected in all germplasm. Furthermore, principal component analysis (PCA) indicated that Pita, Pita/Pita-2, Pi-d(t)2, Pib and Pit were the major genes responsible for resistance in the germplasm. The present investigation revealed that a set of 68 elite germplasm accessions would have a competitive edge over the current resistance donors being utilized in the breeding programs. Overall, these results might be useful to identify and incorporate the resistance genes from germplasm into elite cultivars through marker assisted selection in rice breeding.

• 한국균학회소식:학술대회논문집
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• 2015.11a
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• pp.23-23
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• 2015

Rice blast disease caused by M. oryzae is the most devastating fungal disease in rice. During the infection process, M. oryzae secretes a large number of glycosyl hydrolase (GH) proteins into the apoplast to digest host cell wall and assist fungal ingress into host tissues. In this study, we identified a novel M. oryze arabinofuranosidase B (MoAbfB) which is secreted during fungal infection. Live-cell imaging exhibited that fluorescent labeled MoAbfB was highly accumulated in fungal invasive structures such as appressorium, tips of penetration peg, biotrophic interfacial complex (BIC), as well as invasive hyphal tip. Deletion of MoAbfB mutants extended biotrophic phase followed by enhanced disease severity, whereas, over-expression of OsMoAbfB mutant induced rapid defense responses and enhanced rice resistance to M. oryzae infection. Furthermore, exogenous treatment of MoAbfB protein showed inhibition of fungal infection via priming of defense gene expression. We later found that the extract of MoAbfB degraded rice cell wall fragments could also induce host defense activation, suggesting that not MoAbfB itself but oligosaccharides (OGs) derived from MoAbfB dissolved rice cell wall elicited rice innate immunity.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.257-263
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• 2000

Infection with rice blast fungus (Magnaporthe grisea) significantly reduced foliar net photosynthesis (A) of rice cultivars: Ilpoom, Hwasung, and Choochung in greenhouse experiments. By measuring the amount of diseased leaf area with a computer image analysis system, the relation between disease severity (DS) and net photosynthetic rate was curvilinearly correlated (r=0.679). Diseased leaves with 35% blast symptom can be predicted to have a 50% reduction of photosynthesis. The disease severity was linearly correlated (r=0.478) with total chlorophyll (chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b) per unit leaf area(TC). Light use efficiency was reduced by the fungal infection according to the light response curves. However, dark respiration (Rd) did not change after the fungal infection (p=0.526). Since the percent of reduction in photosynthesis greatly exceeded the percent of leaf area covered by blast lesions, loss of photosynthetic tissue on an area basis could not by itself account for the reduced photosynthesis. Quantitative photosynthetic reduction can be partially explained by decreasing TC, but cannot be explained by decreasing Rd. By photosynthesis (A)-internal CO$_2$ concentration (C$_i$ curve analysis, it was suggested that the fungal infection reduced ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) activity, ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate (RuBP) regeneration, and inorganic phosphate regeneration. Thus, the reduction of photosynthesis by blast infection was associated with decreased TC and biochemical capacity, which comprises all carbon metabolism after CO$_2$ enters through the stomata.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Pathology Conference
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• 1999.04a
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• pp.17.1-17
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• 1999

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Pathology Conference
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• 1999.04a
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• pp.37.1-37
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• 1999

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Pathology Conference
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• 1999.04a
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• pp.38-38
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• 1999