Metal oxide nanoparticles inhibit nitrogen fixation and rhizosphere colonization by inducing ROS in associative nitrogen-fixing bacteria Pseudomonas stutzeri A1501.

The potential effects of engineered metal oxide nanoparticles (MONPs) on bacterial nitrogen fixation are of great concern. Herein, the impact and mechanism of the increasing-used MONPs, including TiO, AlO, and ZnO nanoparticles (TiONP, AlONP, and ZnONP, respectively), on nitrogenase activity was studied at the concentrations ranging from 0 to 10 mg L using associative rhizosphere nitrogen-fixing bacteria Pseudomonas stutzeri A1501. Nitrogen fixation capacity was inhibited by MONPs in an increasing degree of TiONP < AlONP < ZnONP.

An orphan protein of Fusarium graminearum modulates host immunity by mediating proteasomal degradation of TaSnRK1α.

Fusarium graminearum is a causal agent of Fusarium head blight (FHB) and a deoxynivalenol (DON) producer. In this study, OSP24 is identified as an important virulence factor in systematic characterization of the 50 orphan secreted protein (OSP) genes of F. graminearum.

Independent losses and duplications of autophagy-related genes in fungal tree of life.

Autophagy is important for growth, development and pathogenesis in fungi. Although autophagic process is generally considered to be conserved, the conservation and evolution of ATG genes at kingdom-wide remains to be conducted. Here we systematically identified 41 known ATG genes in 331 species and analyzed their distribution across the fungal kingdom.