A5050606618- Fungal and yeast genetics research
- Plant-Microbe Interactions and Immunity
- Plant Pathogens and Fungal Diseases
- Plant and Fungal Interactions Research
- Plant Virus Research Studies
- Yeasts and Rust Fungi Studies
- Plant Disease Resistance and Genetics
- Bacterial Genetics and Biotechnology
- Photosynthetic Processes and Mechanisms
- Mycorrhizal Fungi and Plant Interactions
- Wheat and Barley Genetics and Pathology
- Plant Parasitism and Resistance
- Biofuel production and bioconversion
- Mycotoxins in Agriculture and Food
- Plant Pathogens and Resistance
- Plant pathogens and resistance mechanisms
- Plant Reproductive Biology
- Fungal Biology and Applications
- Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology
- RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms
- Plant Molecular Biology Research
- Viral Infections and Vectors
- Microbial Natural Products and Biosynthesis
- Bacteriophages and microbial interactions
- Hemoglobin structure and function
Friedrich Schiller University Jena
2020-2024
Anhui Normal University
2024
Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology
2007-2022
RWTH Aachen University
2012-2022
University of Göttingen
2010-2022
Laboratoire des Interactions Plantes Micro-Organismes
2015
Max Planck Society
2003-2012
University of Bremen
2011
Institut Jacques Monod
1999-2003
Sorbonne Université
2003
Ustilago maydis is an important fungal pathogen of maize, causing corn smut. It well adapted to its host and proliferates in living plant tissue without inducing a defence response. The genome sequence U. has now been determined, the first for biotrophic parasite. Several gene clusters that encode secreted proteins unknown function were identified: genome-wide expression analysis shows clustered genes are upregulated during disease. Mutations these frequently affect virulence, ranging from...
Biotrophic pathogens, such as the related maize pathogenic fungi Ustilago maydis and Sporisorium reilianum, establish an intimate relationship with their hosts by secreting protein effectors. Because secreted effectors interacting plant proteins should rapidly evolve, we identified variable genomic regions sequencing genome of S. reilianum comparing it U. genome. We detected 43 low sequence conservation in otherwise well-conserved syntenic genomes. These primarily encode include previously...
Ustilago hordei is a biotrophic parasite of barley (Hordeum vulgare). After seedling infection, the fungus persists in plant until head emergence when fungal spores develop and are released from sori formed at kernel positions. The 26.1-Mb U. genome contains 7113 protein encoding genes with high synteny to smaller genomes related, maize-infecting smut fungi maydis Sporisorium reilianum but has larger repeat content that affected evolution important loci, including mating-type effector loci....
Abstract In the smut fungus Ustilago maydis, a tightly regulated cAMP signaling cascade is necessary for pathogenic development. Transcriptome analysis using whole genome microarrays set up to identify putative target genes of protein kinase A catalytic subunit Adr1 revealed nine with functions in two high-affinity iron uptake systems. These locate three gene clusters on different chromosomes and include previously identified complementing siderophore auxotroph sid1 sid2 involved...
SUMMARY Infection of maize ( Zea mays ) plants with the smut fungus Ustilago maydis is characterized by excessive host tumour formation. U. able to produce indole‐3‐acetic acid (IAA) efficiently from tryptophan. To assess a possible connection induction tumours, we investigated pathways leading fungal IAA biosynthesis. Besides previously identified iad1 gene, second indole‐3‐acetaldehyde dehydrogenase iad2 . Δiad1Δiad2 mutants were blocked in conversion both and tryptamine IAA, although...
Smut fungi are plant pathogens mostly parasitizing wild species of grasses as well domesticated cereal crops. Genome analysis several smut including Ustilago maydis revealed a singular clustered organization genes encoding secreted effectors. In U. maydis, many these clusters have role in virulence. Reconstructing the evolutionary history effector is difficult because their intrinsically fast evolution, which erodes phylogenetic signal and homology relationships. Here, we describe use...
Sporisorium reilianum is a biotrophic maize (Zea mays) pathogen of increasing economic importance. Symptoms become obvious at flowering time, when the fungus causes spore formation and phyllody in inflorescences. To understand how S. changes inflorescence floral developmental program its host plant, we investigated induced morphological transcriptional alterations. infection promoted outgrowth subapical ears, suggesting that fungal presence suppressed apical dominance. Female inflorescences...
Peroxisome-localized oxo-phytodienoic acid (OPDA) reductases (OPR) are enzymes converting 12-OPDA into jasmonic (JA). However, the biochemical and physiological functions of cytoplasmic non-JA producing OPRs remain largely unknown. Here, we generated Mutator-insertional mutants maize OPR2 gene tested its role in resistance to pathogens with distinct lifestyles. Functional analyses showed that opr2 were more susceptible (hemi)biotrophic Colletotrichum graminicola Ustilago maydis, but...
Succinate dehydrogenases from bacteria and archaea using menaquinone (MK) as an electron acceptor (succinate/menaquinone oxidoreductases) contain, or are predicted to two heme‐B groups in the membrane‐anchoring protein(s), located close opposite sides of membrane. All succinate/ubiquinone oxidoreductases, however, contain only one molecule. In Bacillus subtilis other that use MK respiratory quinone, succinate oxidase activity (succinate←O 2 ), succinate/menaquinone oxidoreductase were...
ABSTRACT Sporisorium reilianum and Ustilago maydis are two closely related smut fungi, which both infect maize but differ fundamentally in their mode of plant invasion site symptom development. As a prelude to studying the molecular basis these differences, we have characterized mating type loci S. reilianum. has unlinked loci, b . Genes adjacent regions show high degree synteny corresponding genes U. The locus occurs at least five alleles encodes subunits heterodimeric homeodomain...
Iron is an important element for many essential processes in living organisms. To acquire iron, the basidiomycete Ustilago maydis synthesizes iron-chelating siderophores ferrichrome and A. The chemical structures of these have been elucidated long time ago but so far only two enzymes involved their biosynthesis described. Sid1, ornithine monoxygenase, needed both siderophores, Sid2, a non-ribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS), generation. In this work we identified four novel enzymes, Fer3,...
The ability of pathogens to evade phagosomal killing is critical for their pathogenicity. Previously, we had identified the HscA effector protein in clinically important fungal pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus , which redirects conidia-containing phagosomes from degradative non-degradative pathway. Here, discovered a pathogenic form this surface protein, determined by single tyrosine residue (Y) at position 596, lacking most fungi analyzed, that have leucine (L) instead. Y596 enables penetrate...
Abstract We identified a nonpathogenic strain of Ustilago maydis by tagging mutagenesis. The affected gene, glucosidase1 (gas1), displays similarity to catalytic α-subunits endoplasmic reticulum (ER) glucosidase II. have shown that Gas1 localizes the ER and complements temperature-sensitive phenotype Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutant lacking gas1 deletion mutants were normal in growth mating but more sensitive calcofluor tunicamycin. Mutant infection hyphae displayed significant alterations...
Plants and fungi display a broad range of interactions in natural agricultural ecosystems ranging from symbiosis to parasitism. These ecological result coevolution between genes belonging different partners. A well-understood example is secreted fungal effector proteins their host targets, which play an important role pathogenic interactions. Biotrophic smut (Basidiomycota) are well-suited investigate the evolution plant pathogens, because several reference genomes genetic tools available...
Summary Smut fungi are biotrophic plant pathogens that exhibit a very narrow host range. The smut fungus S porisorium reilianum exists in two host‐adapted formae speciales: . f. sp. ( SRS ), which causes head of sorghum, and zeae SRZ induces disease on maize. It is unknown why the speciales cannot form spores their respective non‐favoured hosts. By fungal DNA quantification fluorescence microscopy stained samples, we followed colonization behaviour both sorghum Both were able to penetrate...