CPR1: a gene encoding a putative signal peptidase that functions in pathogenicity of Colletotrichum graminicola to maize.

Colletotrichum graminicola causes anthracnose leaf blight and stalk rot of maize. We used restriction-enzyme mediated insertional (REMI) mutagenesis to identify a gene in this fungus that is required for pathogenicity to both stalks and leaves. The predicted polypeptide encoded by this gene, which we have named CPR1, is similar to a family of proteins that comprise one subunit of the eukaryotic microsomal signal peptidase. The nonpathogenic CPR1 REMI mutant contains a plasmid integration in the 3' untranslated region of the gene, 19 bp downstream from the stop codon. The result is a significant reduction in transcript levels in comparison to the wild type, perhaps as a result of increased transcript instability. We were unable to knock out the CPR1 gene, and it may be essential for viability. Microscopic examination of the REMI mutant on maize leaves revealed that it is fully capable of penetrating and colonizing host cells during the initial, biotrophic phases of the disease interaction but, unlike the wild type, it appears to be unable to switch to a necrotrophic mode of growth. We suggest that the CPR1 REMI mutant may be unable to secrete sufficient quantities of degradative enzymes to support that transition. The CPR1 REMI mutant provides us with a useful tool for future studies of the role of fungal protein transport in this important stalk rot disease of maize.

Restriction enzyme-mediated integration used to produce pathogenicity mutants of Colletotrichum graminicola.

We have developed a restriction enzyme-mediated insertional mutagenesis (REMI) system for the maize pathogen Colletotrichum graminicola. In this report, we demonstrate the utility of a REMI-based mutagenesis approach to identify novel pathogenicity genes. Use of REMI increased transformation efficiency by as much as 27-fold over transformations with linearized plasmid alone. Ninety-nine transformants were examined by Southern analysis, and 51% contained simple integrations consisting of one copy of the vector integrated at a single site in the genome. All appeared to have a plasmid integration at a unique site. Sequencing across the integration sites of six transformants demonstrated that in all cases the plasmid integration occurred at the corresponding restriction enzyme-recognition site. We used an in vitro bioassay to identify two pathogenicity mutants among 660 transformants. Genomic DNA flanking the plasmid integration sites was used to identify corresponding cosmids in a wild-type genomic library. The pathogenicity of one of the mutants was restored when it was transformed with the cosmids.