Primary and secondary metabolism regulates lipolysis in appressoria of Colletotrichum orbiculare.

The conidia of Colletotrichum orbiculare, the causal agent of cucumber anthracnose, develop appressoria that are pigmented with melanin for host plant infection. Premature appressoria contain abundant lipid droplets (LDs), but these disappear during appressorial maturation, indicating lipolysis inside the appressorial cells. The lipolysis and melanization in appressoria require the peroxin PEX6, suggesting the importance of peroxisomal metabolism in these processes.

Entry mode-dependent function of an indole glucosinolate pathway in Arabidopsis for nonhost resistance against anthracnose pathogens.

When faced with nonadapted fungal pathogens, Arabidopsis thaliana mounts nonhost resistance responses, which typically result in the termination of early pathogenesis steps. We report that nonadapted anthracnose fungi engage two alternative entry modes during pathogenesis on leaves: turgor-mediated invasion beneath melanized appressoria, and a previously undiscovered hyphal tip-based entry (HTE) that is independent of appressorium formation. The frequency of HTE is positively regulated by carbohydrate nutrients and appears to be subject to constitutive inhibition by the fungal mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade of MAPK ESSENTIAL FOR APPRESSORIUM FORMATION1.

SPM1 encoding a vacuole-localized protease is required for infection-related autophagy of the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae.

SPM1, encoding a putative subtilisin-like protease, is involved in pathogenicity of the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae, but its detailed function remains unknown. Here, we report that SPM1 encodes a vacuole-localized protease that is a critical component for autophagy during the infection process of M. oryzae.

Atg26-mediated pexophagy and fungal phytopathogenicity.

Colletotrichum orbiculare is a plant pathogenic fungus that causes disease on cucumber plants. A homologue of ATG26 (CoATG26) was identified as the gene involved in pathogenesis. The peroxisomes are degraded via pexophagy during formation of an infection structure called the appressorium of C.

Atg26-mediated pexophagy is required for host invasion by the plant pathogenic fungus Colletotrichum orbiculare.

The number of peroxisomes in a cell can change rapidly in response to changing environmental and physiological conditions. Pexophagy, a type of selective autophagy, is involved in peroxisome degradation, but its physiological role remains to be clarified. Here, we report that cells of the cucumber anthracnose fungus Colletotrichum orbiculare undergo peroxisome degradation as they infect host plants.

Multiple contributions of peroxisomal metabolic function to fungal pathogenicity in Colletotrichum lagenarium.

In Colletotrichum lagenarium, which is the causal agent of cucumber anthracnose, PEX6 is required for peroxisome biogenesis and appressorium-mediated infection. To verify the roles of peroxisome-associated metabolism in fungal pathogenicity, we isolated and functionally characterized ICL1 of C. lagenarium, which encodes isocitrate lyase involved in the glyoxylate cycle in peroxisomes.