Abstract:
Autophagy, a conserved cellular recycling process, plays a crucial role in maintaining homeostasis under stress conditions. It also regulates the development and virulence of numerous filamentous fungi. In this study, we investigated the specific function of ATG8, a reliable autophagic marker, in the opportunistic pathogen Aspergillus flavus. To investigate the role of atg8 in A. flavus, the deletion and complemented mutants of atg8 were generated according to the homologous recombination principle. Deletion of atg8 showed a significant decrease in conidiation, spore germination, and sclerotia formation compared to the WT and atg8C strains. Additionally, aflatoxin production was found severely impaired in the ∆atg8 mutant. The stress assays demonstrated that ATG8 was important for A. flavus response to oxidative stress. The fluorescence microscopy showed increased levels of reactive oxygen species in the ∆atg8 mutant cells, and the transcriptional result also indicated that genes related to the antioxidant system were significantly reduced in the ∆atg8 mutant. We further found that ATG8 participated in regulating the pathogenicity of A. flavus on crop seeds. These results revealed the biological role of ATG8 in A. flavus, which might provide a potential target for the control of A. flavus and AFB1 biosynthesis.
摘要:
自噬,一个保守的细胞回收过程,在压力条件下维持稳态中起着至关重要的作用。它还调节许多丝状真菌的发育和毒力。在这项研究中,我们研究了ATG8的特定功能,ATG8是一种可靠的自噬标记,在条件致病菌黄曲霉中。为了研究atg8在黄曲霉中的作用,根据同源重组原理产生了atg8的缺失和互补突变体。删除atg8显示分生孢子显着减少,孢子萌发,与WT和atg8C菌株相比,菌核形成。此外,在Δatg8突变体中发现黄曲霉毒素的产生严重受损。应激试验表明ATG8对于黄曲霉对氧化应激的反应是重要的。荧光显微镜检查显示,Δatg8突变细胞中活性氧的水平增加,转录结果还表明与抗氧化系统相关的基因在△atg8突变体中显著减少。我们进一步发现ATG8参与调节黄曲霉对作物种子的致病性。这些结果揭示了ATG8在黄曲霉中的生物学作用,这可能为黄曲霉和AFB1生物合成的控制提供一个潜在的目标。