Cgl-SLT2 is required for appressorium formation, sporulation and pathogenicity in Colletotrichum gloeosporioide

The mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase pathways has been implicated in the pathogenicity of various pathogenic fungi and plays important roles in regulating pathogenicity-related morphogenesis. This work describes the isolation and characterization of MAP kinase gene, Cgl-SLT2, from Colletotrichum gloeosporioides. A DNA sequence, including 1,633 bp of Cgl-SLT2 open-reading frame and its promoter and terminator regions, was isolated via DNA walking and cloned. To analyze gene function, a gene disruption cassette containing hygromycin-resistant gene was constructed, and Cgl-SLT2 was inactivated via gene deletion. Analysis on Cgl-slt2 mutant revealed a defect in vegetative growth and sporulation as compared to the wild-type strain. When grown under nutrient-limiting conditions, hyperbranched hyphal morphology was observed in the mutant. Conidia induction for germination on rubber wax-coated hard surfaces revealed no differences in the percentage of conidial germination between the wild-type and Cgl-slt2 mutant. However, the percentage of appressorium formation in the mutant was greatly reduced. Bipolar germination in the mutant was higher than in the wild-type at 8-h post-induction. A pathogenicity assay revealed that the mutant was unable to infect either wounded or unwounded mangoes. These results suggest that the Cgl-SLT2 MAP kinase is required for C. gloeosporioides conidiation, polarized growth, appressorium formation and pathogenicity.

Comparison of methods for isolating high quality DNA and RNA from an oleaginous fungus Cunninghamella bainieri strain 2a1

A number of protocols have been reported for efficient fungal DNA and RNA isolation. However, many of these methods are often designed for certain groups or morphological forms of fungi and, in some cases, are species dependent. In this report, we compared four published protocols for DNA isolation from a locally isolated oleaginous fungus, Cunninghamella bainieri strain 2a1. These protocols either involved the use of polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP), hexacetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) or without using PVB or CTAB. For RNA isolation, we tested two published protocols, one of which is based on TRI REAGENT (Molecular Research Center, USA) and another is simple method employing phenol for RNA extraction and LiCl for precipitation. We found that the protocol involving the use of CTAB produced the highest genomic DNA yield with the best quality compared to other protocols. In the presence of CTAB, unwanted polysaccharides were removed and this method yielded an average amount of 816 ± 12.2 μg DNA/g mycelia with UV absorbance ratios A260/280 and A260/230 of 1.67 ± 0.64 and 1.97 ± 0.23, respectively. The genomic DNA isolated via this protocol is also suitable for PCR amplification and restriction enzyme digestion. As for RNA isolation, the method involving phenol extraction and LiCl precipitation produced the highest yield of RNA with an average amount of 372 ± 6.0 μg RNA/g mycelia. The RNA appears to be relatively pure since it has UV absorbance ratios A260/280 and A260/230 of 1.89 ± 2.00 and 1.99 ± 0.03, respectively. Finally, we have demonstrated that this method could produce RNA of sufficient quality for RT-PCR that amplified a 600 bp fragment of Δ12-fatty acid desaturase gene in C. bainieri.