Cloning, sequencing and functional analysis of Magnaporthe grisea MVP1 gene, a hex-1 homolog encoding a putative 'woronin body' protein

Abstract

A hex-1 homolog named MVP1 was isolated from an appressoria cDNA library of the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe grisea. The transcript of similar to1.6 kb contains 546 bp of coding sequence with a 3' untranslated region about 168 by long and a 5' untranslated region about 870 bp long. Southern gel blot analysis of genomic DNA following digestion with three restriction enzymes (BamHI, EcoRI, HindIII) indicated that the gene exists as a single copy in M. grisea genome. RNA gel blot analyses showed that MVP1 was highly expressed in germinating conidia and the mycelial stage compared to appressoria or non-germinated conidia. MVPI showed a high degree of homology to the hex-1 gene recently described to encode a major protein in the woronin bodies of Neurospora crassa. Double homologous recombination was used to replace MVP1 with the hyg(R) gene. MVP1 knockout mutants showed apical swellings when grown on agar plates containing 2% sorbose but they were not impaired in any other vegetative or pathogenic properties evaluated. The pathological and other phenotypic consequences of gene disruption are discussed. (C) 2003 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Keywords

Appressorium; cDNA; Gene disruption; Northern blotting; Rice blast fungus

Published in

FEMS Microbiology Letters
2004, Volume: 230, number: 1, pages: 85-90
Publisher: ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

SLU Authors

• Asiegbu, Frederick

  • Department of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-1097(03)00858-9

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/4006