Publications by authors named "Haowu Chang"

Many powerful methods have been employed to elucidate the global transcriptomic, proteomic, or metabolic responses to pathogen-infected host cells. However, the host glycome responses to bacterial infection remain largely unexplored, and hence, our understanding of the molecular mechanisms by which bacterial pathogens manipulate the host glycome to favor infection remains incomplete. Here, we address this gap by performing a systematic analysis of the host glycome during infection by the bacterial pathogen Brucella spp.

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Article Synopsis
  • The immune system uses a process called phagocytosis to destroy germs, but some germs, like the one that causes brucellosis, can trick this defense.
  • This germ activates a special process that breaks down a protein (BLOS1) needed for moving germs to lysosomes, where they get destroyed.
  • When certain cells or mice couldn't use this breakdown process, they were better at fighting off the infection, showing that this protein plays an important role in protecting against germs.
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Although growing evidence shows that microRNA (miRNA) regulates plant growth and development, miRNA regulatory networks in plants are not well understood. Current experimental studies cannot characterize miRNA regulatory networks on a large scale. This information gap provides an excellent opportunity to employ computational methods for global analysis and generate valuable models and hypotheses.

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Cyclophilin (Cyp) and Ca/calcineurin proteins are cellular components related to fungal morphogenesis and virulence; however, their roles in mediating the pathogenesis of , the causative agent of gray mold on over 1000 plant species, remain largely unexplored. Here, we show that disruption of cyclophilin gene did not impair the pathogen mycelial growth, osmotic and oxidative stress adaptation as well as cell wall integrity, but delayed conidial germination and germling development, altered conidial and sclerotial morphology, reduced infection cushion (IC) formation, sclerotial production and virulence. Exogenous cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) rescued the deficiency of IC formation of the ∆ mutants, and exogenous cyclosporine A (CsA), an inhibitor targeting cyclophilins, altered hyphal morphology and prevented host-cell penetration in the harboring strains.

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Plant fungal diseases have been affecting the world's agricultural production and economic levels for a long time, such as rice blast, gray tomato mold, potato late blight etc. Recent studies have shown that fungal pathogens transmit microRNA as an effector to host plants for infection. However, bioassay-based verification analysis is time-consuming and challenging, and it is difficult to analyze from a global perspective.

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Article Synopsis
  • Scientists studied how a fungus called Botrytis cinerea infects tomato plants by analyzing the genes both the plant and fungus use to interact with each other.
  • They found that certain genes in the fungus helped it infect the tomato plant, while the tomato plant also activated its own defenses to fight back.
  • One specific gene in the fungus, called BcCGF1, was important for its ability to cause disease, and this discovery could help in finding new ways to protect plants from infections.
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Histone 3 Lysine 4 (H3K4) demethylation is ubiquitous in organisms, however the roles of H3K4 demethylase JARID1(Jar1)/KDM5 in fungal development and pathogenesis remain largely unexplored. Here, we demonstrate that Jar1/KDM5 in Botrytis cinerea, the grey mould fungus, plays a crucial role in these processes. The BcJAR1 gene was deleted and its roles in fungal development and pathogenesis were investigated using approaches including genetics, molecular/cell biology, pathogenicity and transcriptomic profiling.

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In recent years, studies have shown that phytopathogenic fungi possess the ability of cross-kingdom regulation of host plants through small RNAs (sRNAs). , a causative agent of rice blast, introduces disease by penetrating the rice tissues through appressoria. However, little is known about the transboundary regulation of sRNAs during the interaction of the pathogen with its host rice.

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The process of initiation of host invasion and survival of some foliar phytopathogenic fungi in the absence of external nutrients on host leaf surfaces remains obscure. Here, we demonstrate that gluconeogenesis plays an important role in the process and nutrient-starvation adaptation before the pathogen host invasion. Deletion of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase gene BcPCK1 in gluconeogenesis in Botrytis cinerea, the causative agent of grey mould, resulted in the failure of the ΔBcpck1 mutant conidia to germinate on hard and hydrophobic surface and penetrate host cells in the absence of glucose, reduction in conidiation and slow conidium germination in a nutrient-rich medium.

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