Glutamate synthase MoGlt1-mediated glutamate homeostasis is important for autophagy, virulence and conidiation in the rice blast fungus.

Glutamate homeostasis plays a vital role in central nitrogen metabolism and coordinates several key metabolic functions. However, its function in fungal pathogenesis and development has not been investigated in detail. In this study, we identified and characterized a glutamate synthase gene MoGLT1 in the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae that was important to glutamate homeostasis. MoGLT1 was constitutively expressed, but showed the highest expression level in appressoria. Deletion of MoGLT1 resulted in a significant reduction in conidiation and virulence. The ΔMoglt1 mutants were defective in appressorial penetration and the differentiation and spread of invasive hyphae in penetrated plant cells. The addition of exogenous glutamic acid partially rescued the defects of the ΔMoglt1 mutants in conidiation and plant infection. Assays for MoAtg8 expression and localization showed that the ΔMoglt1 mutants were defective in autophagy. The ΔMoglt1 mutants were delayed in the mobilization of glycogens and lipid bodies from conidia to developing appressoria. Taken together, our results show that glutamate synthase MoGlt1-mediated glutamate homeostasis is important for pathogenesis and development in the rice blast fungus, possibly via the regulation of autophagy.

Characterization of the promoter and 5'-UTR intron of oleic acid desaturase (FAD2) gene in Brassica napus.

In the present study, we characterized the transcriptional regulatory region (KF038144) controlling the expression of a constitutive FAD2 in Brassica napus. There are multiple FAD2 gene copies in B. napus genome. The FAD2 gene characterized and analyzed in the study is located on chromosome A5 and was designated as BnFAD2A5-1. BnFAD2A5-1 harbors an intron (1,192 bp) within its 5'-untranslated region (5'-UTR). This intron demonstrated promoter activity. Deletion analysis of the BnFAD2A5-1 promoter and intron through the ß-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter system revealed that the -220 to -1 bp is the minimum promoter region, while -220 to -110 bp and +34 to +285 bp are two important regions conferring high-levels of transcription. BnFAD2 transcripts were induced by light, low temperature, and abscisic acid (ABA). These observations demonstrated that not only the promoter but also the intron are involved in controlling the expression of the BnFAD2A5-1 gene. The intron-mediated regulation is an essential aspect of the gene expression regulation.