In vitro secretomic analysis identifies putative pathogenicity-related proteins of Sporisorium scitamineum - The sugarcane smut fungus.

Sporisorium scitamineum, the sugarcane smut pathogen, relies predominantly on its secretome to successfully colonise its host, in accordance with other related smut fungi. Considering the significance of deciphering its secretome, we have examined alterations in the in vitro secretome of S. scitamineum in response to synthetic and sugarcane meristem tissue-amended growth media, so as to identify host signal responsive secretory proteins. Secretory proteins that were differentially abundant and exclusively secreted in response to host extract media were identified by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis coupled with MALDI-TOF/TOF MS. Of the 16 differentially abundant and exclusively secreted proteins, nine proteins were identified. Among which, six were related to cell wall modification, morphogenesis, polysaccharide degradation, and carbohydrate metabolism. In planta gene expression profiling indicated that five in vitro secreted proteins were expressed in distinct patterns by S. scitamineum during different stages of infection with relatively higher expression at 1 day after inoculation, suggesting that these proteins could be aiding S. scitamineum at early time points in penetration and colonisation of sugarcane cells. The present study has provided insights into the alterations occurring in the secretome of S. scitamineum at in vitro conditions and has resulted in the identification of secretory proteins that are possibly associated with pathogenicity of the sugarcane smut fungus.

Draft Genome Sequence of Colletotrichum falcatum - A Prelude on Screening of Red Rot Pathogen in Sugarcane.

Colletotrichum falcatum, a concealed fungal ascomycete causes red rot, which is a serious disease in sugarcane. It infects economically important stalk tissues, considered as store house of sugar in sugarcane. The study is to find genetic complexities of C. falcatum in establishing this as a stalk infecting pathogen and to decipher the unique lifestyle of this pathogen using NGS technology. We report the draft genome of C. falcatum of about 48.16 Mb in size with 12,270 genes. The genome sequences were compared with other fungal species which revealed that C. falcatum is closely related to C. graminicola and C.sublineola the causal organisms of anthracnose in maize and sorghum. These results brought a new revelation to explore the lifestyle of this unique pathogen which is specialized to infect sugarcane stalk tissues in detail.