Plant Biology Commons^™

Spatial Patterns Of Brown Rot Epidemics And Development Of Microsatellite Markers For Analyzing Fine-Scale Genetic Structure Of Monilinia Fructicola Populations Within Peach Tree Canopies, Sydney E. Everhart, A. Askew, L. Seymour, T. C. Glenn, H. Scherm

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

To better understand the fine-scale spatial dynamics of brown rot disease and corresponding fungal genotypes, we analyzed three-dimensional spatial patterns of pre-harvest fruit rot caused by Monilinia fructicola in individual peach tree canopies and developed microsatellite markers for canopy-level population genetics analyses. Using a magnetic digitizer, high-resolution maps of fruit rot development in five representative trees were generated, and M. fructicola was isolated from each affected fruit. To characterize disease aggregation, nearest-neighbor distances among symptomatic fruit were calculated and compared with appropriate random simulations. Within-canopy disease aggregation correlated negatively with the number of diseased fruit per tree (r = −0.827, …

Prothioconazole Tolerant Cryptococcus Flavescens Strains For Biological Control Of Fusarium Head Blight, David A. Schisler, Michael J. Boehm

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

Strains of Cryptococcus flavescens which are superior antagonists of F. graminearum for suppression and control of FHB in cereals, particularly in wheat and barley, are described. The strains are prothioconazole tolerant variants of previously described C. flavescens OH 182.9 (NRRL Y-30216). Moreover, these prothioconazole tolerant variants exhibit significantly increased efficacy against F. graminearum in comparison to the parent strain OH 182.9.

Product Comparison Of Foliar Fungicide Efficacy On Diseases Of Field Corn In Nebraska, 2011, C. M. Schleicher, T. A. Jackson

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

foliar fungicide efficacy trial was conducted at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln South Central Agricultural Laboratory near Clay Center, NE. Dekalb corn hybrid DKC 62-54, rating of “good” (6 out of 9) for gray leaf spot (GLS) and “excellent” (2 out of 9) for common rust (CR), was planted on 3 May in 30-in. rows with a target population of 32,000 plants/A. The trial area was disked with soybean as the previous year’s crop. On 9 May before plant emergence, a herbicide program of Roundup (1 pt/A), Verdict (16 fl oz/A) and Atrazine (1 lb/A) was applied to the trial site. …

Efficacy Evaluation Of Foliar Fungicide Application Timing On Diseases Of Field Corn In Nebraska, 2011, C. M. Schleicher, T. A. Jackson

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

foliar fungicide efficacy timing trial was conducted at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln South Central Agricultural Laboratory near Clay Center, NE. Dekalb corn hybrid DKC 62-54, rating of “good” (6 out of 9) for gray leaf spot (GLS) and “excellent” (2 out of 9) for common rust (CR), was planted on 3 May in 30-in. rows with a target population of 32,000 plants/A. The trial area was disked with soybean as the previous year’s crop. On 9 May before plant emergence, a herbicide program of Roundup (1 pt/A), Verdict (16 fl oz/A) and Atrazine (1 lb/A) was applied to the trial …

Evaluation Of Foliar Fungicide Efficacy On Sorghum In Nebraska, 2011, C. M. Schleicher, T. A. Jackson-Ziems

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

A foliar fungicide efficacy trial was conducted at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln South Central Agricultural Laboratory near Clay Center, NE. DeKalb sorghum hybrid DKS 36-06 was planted on 23 May in 30-in. rows with a target population of approximately 120,000 plants/A. The trial area was disked with soybean as the previous year’s crop. Four treatments and a nontreated control were replicated six times in a randomized complete block design. Each plot was four rows (10 ft) wide by 40 ft in length. . . . There were significant differences in GLS AUDPC among treatments. The nontreated control exhibited the largest …

Effects Of Crop Injury On Disease Development, Tamra A. Jackson, Loren J. Giesler, Robert M. Harveson

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

The effect of damage caused by blowing soil and leaf contact with high speed winds and hail will all create a similar level of wounding that is often sufficient for pathogens that require wounds to enter (infect) plants. As we look at the level of disease and crop damage we can identify several examples in the corn and soybean disease systems when this can be a factor that could lead to significant disease development and possibly trigger a disease management action.

Hail and wind damage can result in an open canopy which can affect the microclimate and impact disease development. …

What's New In Plant Pathology: Resistance: Mystery And Misunderstandings, Amy D. Timmerman, Loren J. Giesler, Robert M. Harveson, Tamra Jackson-Ziems, Stephen N. Wegulo

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

One of the most common management recommendations for plant diseases is the use of resistant or tolerant varieties/hybrids in your production system. However, there is common confusion on the definition and differentiation of susceptible, tolerant, and resistant varieties/hybrids from a plant pathology viewpoint. A susceptible variety/hybrid allows the pathogen to reproduce and causes significant disease development and in turn compromises the productivity of the plant (i.e., yield). A tolerant variety/hybrid allows the pathogen to reproduce and cause disease at the same or at a slightly reduced rate as a susceptible variety/cultivar; however, there is no noticeable reduction in the plant’s …

Application Timing On Foliar Fungicide Efficacy On Sorghum In Nebraska, 2009, C. M. Schleicher, T. A. Jackson

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

A foliar fungicide efficacy trial was established at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln South Central Agricultural Laboratory near Clay Center, NE. Grain sorghum hybrid NC+ 7R83 was planted on 18 May in 30-in. rows with a target population of 90,000 plants/A. The trial area was disked with a crop history of five years of continuous corn. Eight treatments and a non-treated control were replicated six times in a randomized complete block design. Each plot was four rows (10 ft) wide by 40 ft in length. . . . There were no significant differences in stay green. Stay green percentages ranged from …

Rna-Mediated Silencing In Algae: Biological Roles And Tools For Analysis Of Gene Function, Heriberto Cerutti, Xinrong Ma, Joseph Msanne, Timothy Repas

Center for Plant Science Innovation: Faculty Publications

Algae are a large group of aquatic, typically photosynthetic, eukaryotes that include species from very diverse phylogenetic lineages, from those similar to land plants to those related to protist parasites. The recent sequencing of several algal genomes has provided insights into the great complexity of these organisms. Genomic information has also emphasized our lack of knowledge of the functions of many predicted genes, as well as the gene regulatory mechanisms in algae. Core components of the machinery for RNA-mediated silencing show widespread distribution among algal lineages, but they also seem to have been lost entirely from several species with relatively …

Muts Homolog1 Is A Nucleoid Protein That Alters Mitochondrial And Plastid Properties And Plant Response To High Light, Ying-Zhi Xu, Maria P. Arrieta-Montiel, Kamaldeep S. Virdi, Wilson B. M. De Paula, Joshua R. Widhalm, Gilles J. Basset, Jaime I. Davila, Thomas Elthon, Christian G. Elowsky, Shirley J. Sato, Thomas E. Clemente, Sally Ann Mackenzie

Center for Plant Science Innovation: Faculty Publications

Mitochondrial-plastid interdependence within the plant cell is presumed to be essential, but measurable demonstration of this intimate interaction is difficult. At the level of cellular metabolism, several biosynthetic pathways involve both mitochondrial- and plastid-localized steps. However, at an environmental response level, it is not clear how the two organelles intersect in programmed cellular responses. Here, we provide evidence, using genetic perturbation of the MutS Homolog1 (MSH1) nuclear gene in five plant species, that MSH1 functions within the mitochondrion and plastid to influence organellar genome behavior and plant growth patterns. The mitochondrial form of the protein participates in DNA recombination …

Gata-Family Transcription Factors In Magnaporthe Oryzae, Cristian F. Quispe

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The filamentous fungus, Magnaporthe oryzae, responsible for blast rice disease, destroys around 10-30% of the rice crop annually. Infection begins when the specialized infection structure, the appressorium, generates enormous internal turgor pressure through the accumulation of glycerol. This turgor acts on a penetration peg emerging at the base of the cell, causing it to breach the leaf surface allowing its infection.

The enzyme trehalose-6- phosphate synthase (Tps1) is a central regulator of the transition from appressorium development to infectious hyphal growth. In the first chapter we show that initiation of rice blast disease requires a regulatory mechanism involving an …

Delivery Of Prolamins To The Protein Storage Vacuole In Maize Aleurone Cells, Francisca C. Reyes, Taijoon Chung, David Holding, Rudolf Jung, Richard Vierstra, Marisa S. Otegui

Center for Plant Science Innovation: Faculty Publications

Zeins, the prolamin storage proteins found in maize (Zea mays), accumulate in accretions called protein bodies inside the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) of starchy endosperm cells. We found that genes encoding zeins, a-globulin, and legumin-1 are transcribed not only in the starchy endosperm but also in aleurone cells. Unlike the starchy endosperm, aleurone cells accumulate these storage proteins inside protein storage vacuoles (PSVs) instead of the ER. Aleurone PSVs contain zeinrich protein inclusions, a matrix, and a large system of intravacuolar membranes. After being assembled in the ER, zeins are delivered to the aleurone PSVs in atypical prevacuolar compartments …

Plant Targets For Pseudomonas Syringae Type Iii Effectors: Virulence Targets Or Guarded Decoys?, Anna Block, James R. Alfano

Center for Plant Science Innovation: Faculty Publications

The phytopathogenic bacterium Pseudomonas syringae can suppress both pathogen-associated molecular pattern (PAMP)-triggered immunity (PTI) and effector-triggered immunity (ETI) by the injection of type III effector (T3E) proteins into host cells. T3Es achieve immune suppression using a variety of strategies including interference with immune receptor signaling, blocking RNA pathways and vesicle trafficking, and altering organelle function. T3Es can be recognized directly or indirectly by resistance proteins monitoring specific T3E targets resulting in ETI. It is presently unclear whether the monitored targets represent bona fide virulence targets or guarded decoys. Extensive overlap between PTI and ETI signaling suggests that T3Es may suppress …

The N-Terminal Region Of Wheat Streak Mosaic Virus Coat Protein Is A Host- And Strain-Specific Long-Distance Transport Factor, Satyanarayana Tatineni, David H. Van Winkle, Roy French

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

Understanding the genetics underlying host range differences among plant virus strains can provide valuable insights into viral gene functions and virus-host interactions. In this study, we examined viral determinants and mechanisms of differential infection of Zea mays inbred line SDp2 by Wheat streak mosaic virus (WSMV) isolates. WSMV isolates Sidney 81 (WSMV-S81) and Type (WSMV-T) share 98.7% polyprotein sequence identity but differentially infect SDp2: WSMV-S81 induces a systemic infection, but WSMV-T does not. Coinoculation and sequential inoculation of SDp2 with WSMV-T and/or WSMV-S81 did not affect systemic infection by WSMV-S81, suggesting that WSMV-T does not induce a restrictive defense response …

Co-Culture Of Yeast Antagonists Of Fusarium Head Blight And Their Effect On Disease Development In Wheat, D. A. Schisler, P. J. Slininger, Michael J. Boehm, P. A. Paul

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

Multistrain mixtures of biocontrol agents which can reduce plant disease to a greater extent than the individual strains of the mixture, commonly, are prepared by blending separately produced fermentation products. Co-cultivation of strains to equivalent biomass yields would provide mixture advantages without incurring the cost disadvantages of multiple fermentation and processing protocols. Fusariwn Head Blight (FHB) antagonists Cryptococcus flavescens OR 182.9 (NRRL Y-302l6), C. aureus OH 181.1 (NRRL Y-302l5) and C. aureus OR 181.1 (NRRL Y -30215), were grown in two- and three-strain co-cultures to assess the quality and efficacy of the fermentation end products produced. Final cell counts of …

The Gc-Rich Mitochondrial And Plastid Genomes Of The Green Alga Coccomyxa Give Insight Into The Evolution Of Organelle Dna Nucleotide Landscape, David Roy Smith, Fabien Burki, Takashi Burki, Jane Grimwood, Igor V, Grigoriev, James L. Van Etten, Patrick J. Keeling

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

Most of the available mitochondrial and plastid genome sequences are biased towards adenine and thymine (AT) over guanine and cytosine (GC). Examples of GC-rich organelle DNAs are limited to a small but eclectic list of species, including certain green algae. Here, to gain insight in the evolution of organelle nucleotide landscape, we present the GC-rich mitochondrial and plastid DNAs from the trebouxiophyte green alga Coccomyxa sp. C-169. We compare these sequences with other GC-rich organelle DNAs and argue that the forces biasing them towards G and C are nonadaptive and linked to the metabolic and/or life history features of this …

Structural And Functional Analysis Of The Type Iii Secretion System From Pseudomonas Fluorescens Q8r1-96, Dmitri V. Mavrodi, Anna Joe, Olga V. Mavrodi, Karl A. Hassan, David M. Weller, Ian T. Paulsen, Joyce E. Loper, James R. Alfano, Linda S. Thomashow

Center for Plant Science Innovation: Faculty Publications

Pseudomonas fluorescens Q8r1-96 represents a group of rhizosphere strains responsible for the suppressiveness of agricultural soils to take-all disease of wheat. It produces the antibiotic 2,4-diacetylphloroglucinol and aggressively colonizes the roots of cereal crops. In this study, we analyzed the genome of Q8r1-96 and identified a type III protein secretion system (T3SS) gene cluster that has overall organization similar to that of the T3SS gene cluster of the plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae. We also screened a collection of 30 closely related P. fluorescens strains and detected the T3SS genes in all but one of them. The Q8r1-96 genome contained …

Mpk6, Sphinganine And The Lcb2a Gene From Serine Palmitoyltransferase Are Required In The Signaling Pathway That Mediates Cell Death Induced By Long Chain Bases In Arabidopsis, Mariana Saucedo-García, Arturo Guevara-Garcia, Ariadna González-Solís, Felipe Cruz-García, Sonia Vázquez-Santana, Jennifer E. Markham, M. Guadalupe Lozano-Rosas, Charles R. Dietrich, Maricela Ramos-Vega, Edgar B. Cahoon, Marina Gavilanes-Ruíz

Center for Plant Science Innovation: Faculty Publications

• Long chain bases (LCBs) are sphingolipid intermediates acting as second messengers in programmed cell death (PCD) in plants. Most of the molecular and cellular features of this signaling function remain unknown.

• We induced PCD conditions in Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings and analyzed LCB accumulation kinetics, cell ultrastructure and phenotypes in serine palmitoyltransferase (spt), mitogen-activated protein kinase (mpk), mitogenactivated protein phosphatase (mkp1) and lcb-hydroxylase (sbh) mutants.

• The lcb2a-1 mutant was unable to mount an effective PCD in response to fumonisin B1 (FB1), revealing that the LCB2a gene is essential for the …

A Plant Dj-1 Homolog Is Essential For Arabidopsis Thaliana Chloroplast Development, Jiusheng Lin, Tara J. Nazarenus, Jeanine L. Frey, Xinwen Liang, Mark A. Wilson, Julie M. Stone

Center for Plant Science Innovation: Faculty Publications

Protein superfamilies can exhibit considerable diversification of function among their members in various organisms. The DJ-1 superfamily is composed of proteins that are principally involved in stress response and are widely distributed in all kingdoms of life. The model flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana contains three close homologs of animal DJ-1, all of which are tandem duplications of the DJ-1 domain. Consequently, the plant DJ-1 homologs are likely pseudo-dimeric proteins composed of a single polypeptide chain. We report that one A. thaliana DJ-1 homolog (AtDJ1C) is the first DJ-1 homolog in any organism that is required for viability. Homozygous disruption of …

Two Distinct Roles Of Arabidopsis Homolog Of Trithorax1 (Atx1) At Promoters And Within Transcribed Regions Of Atx1-Regulated Genes, Yong Ding, Zoya Avramova, Michael E. Fromm

Center for Plant Science Innovation: Faculty Publications

The Arabidopsis thaliana trithorax-like protein, ATX1, shares common structural domains, has similar histone methyltransferase (HMT) activity, and belongs in the same phylogenetic subgroup as its animal counterparts. Most of our knowledge of the role of HMTs in trimethylating lysine 4 of histone H3 (H3K4me3) in transcriptional regulation comes from studies of yeast and mammalian homologs. Little is known about the mechanism by which ATX1, or any other HMT of plant origin, affects transcription. Here, we provide insights into how ATX1 influences transcription at regulated genes, playing two distinct roles. At promoters, ATX1 is required for TATA binding protein (TBP) and …

Structure Function Analysis Of An Adp-Ribosyltransferase Type Iii Effector And Its Rna-Binding Target In Plant Immunity, Byeong-Ryool Jeong, Yan Lin, Anna Joe, Ming Guo, Christin Korneli, Huirong Yang, Ping Wang, Min Yu, Ronald Cerny, Dorothee Staiger, James R. Alfano, Yanhui Xu

Center for Plant Science Innovation: Faculty Publications

Background: HopU1 ADP-ribosylates GRP7, suppressing plant immunity.

Results: The HopU1 structure has two novel loops required for GRP7 recognition, and HopU1 ribosylates GRP7 at an arginine in position 49 disrupting its function.

Conclusion: HopU1 targets a conserved arginine in GRP7, disabling its ability to bind immunity-related RNA.

Significance: The mechanistic details of how HopU1 recognizes its substrate reveal how HopU1 contributes to pathogenesis.

Efficient And Stable Expression Of Gfp Through Wheat Streak Mosaic Virus-Based Vectors In Cereal Hosts Using A Range Of Cleavage Sites: Formation Of Dense Fluorescent Aggregates For Sensitive Virus Tracking, Satyanarayana Tatineni, Anthony J. Mcmechan, Gary L. Hein, Roy French

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

A series of Wheat streak mosaic virus (WSMV)-based expression vectors were developed by engineering a cycle 3 GFP (GFP) cistron between P1 and HC-Pro cistrons with several catalytic/cleavage peptides at the Cterminus of GFP. WSMV-GFP vectors with the Foot-and-mouth disease virus 1D/2A or 2A catalytic peptides cleaved GFP from HC-Pro but expressed GFP inefficiently. WSMV-GFP vectors with homologous NIa-Pro heptapeptide cleavage sites did not release GFP from HC-Pro, but efficiently expressed GFP as dense fluorescent aggregates. However, insertion of one or two spacer amino acids on either side of NIb/CP heptapeptide cleavage site or deletion in HC-Pro cistron improved processing …

Another Really, Really Big Virus, James L. Van Etten

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

Viruses with genomes larger than 300 kb and up to 1.2 Mb, which encode hundreds of proteins, are being discovered and characterized with increasing frequency. Most, but not all, of these large viruses (often referred to as giruses) infect protists that live in aqueous environments. Bioinformatic analyses of metagenomes of aqueous samples indicate that large DNA viruses are quite common in nature and await discovery. One issue that is perhaps not appreciated by the virology community is that large viruses, even those classified in the same family, can differ significantly in morphology, lifestyle, and gene complement. This brief commentary, which …

Motus, Morphology, And Biodiversity Estimation: A Case Study Using Nematodes Of The Suborder Criconematina And A Conserved 18s Dna Barcode, Thomas O. Powers, Timothy Harris, Rebecca Higgins, Peter Mullin, Lisa Sutton, Kirsten Powers

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

DNA barcodes are increasingly used to provide an estimate of biodiversity for small, cryptic organisms like nematodes. Nucleotide sequences generated by the barcoding process are often grouped, based on similarity, into molecular operational taxonomic units (MOTUs). In order to get a better understanding of the taxonomic resolution of a 3’ 592-bp 18S rDNA barcode, we have analyzed 100 MOTUs generated from 214 specimens in the nematode suborder Criconematina. Previous research has demonstrated that the primer set for this barcode reliably amplifies all nematodes in the Phylum Nematoda. Included among the Criconematina specimens were 25 morphologically described species representing 12 genera. …

Presence Of Fusarium Spp. In Air And Soil Associated With Sorghum Fields, Deanna L. Funnell-Harris, Jeffrey F. Pedersen

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

Sorghum grain, valuable for feed, food, and bioenergy, can be colonized by several Fusarium spp.; therefore, it was of interest to identify possible sources of conidia. Analysis of air and soil samples provided evidence for the presence of propagules from Fusarium genotypes that may cause grain infections. Soil population estimates of members of the Gibberella fujikuroi species complex, that includes sorghum pathogens and other Fusarium spp., suggested that adequate inoculum for systemic infections was present. Conidia in air samples within two sorghum fields were collected by passive trapping for 2 years. Subsampled Fusarium isolates indicated that numbers of G. fujikuroi …

First Report Of Goss's Bacterial Wilt And Leaf Blight (Clavibacter Michiganensis Subsp. Nebraskensis) Of Corn In Texas, K. A. Korus, A. D. Timmerman, R. D. French-Monar, T. A. Jackson

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

In September 2009, the University of Nebraska–Lincoln Plant and Pest Diagnostic Clinic received leaf samples of hybrid corn (Zea mays L.) displaying long, necrotic lesions with wavy margins. The lesions had discontinuous water-soaked spots that are indicative of Goss's bacterial wilt and leaf blight. The symptomatic leaves were submitted from Dallam County, located in the Texas Panhandle (northwest Texas). According to the USDA Farm Service Agency and the National Agricultural Statistics Service, in 2009 Dallam County had 54,025 ha planted to corn. This is approximately 19% of the total corn planted in the 26 counties in the Texas Panhandle …

Effects Of Integrating Cultivar Resistance And Fungicide Application On Fusarium Head Blight And Deoxynivalenol In Winter Wheat, Stephen N. Wegulo, William W. Bockus, John Hernandez Nopsa, Erick D. De Wolf, Kent M. Eskridge, Kamaranga H. S. Peiris, Floyd E. Dowell

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

Fusarium head blight (FHB) or scab, incited by Fusarium graminearum, can cause significant economic losses in small grain production. Five field experiments were conducted from 2007 to 2009 to determine the effects on FHB and the associated mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON) of integrating winter wheat cultivar resistance and fungicide application. Other variables measured were yield and the percentage of Fusarium-damaged kernels (FDK). The fungicides prothioconazole + tebuconazole (formulated as Prosaro 421 SC) were applied at the rate of 0.475 liters/ha, or not applied, to three cultivars (experiments 1 to 3) or six cultivars (experiments 4 and 5) differing in their …

Characterization Of Three-Dimensional Spatial Aggregation And Association Patterns Of Brown Rot Symptoms Within Intensively Mapped Sour Cherry Trees, Sydney E. Everhart, Ashley Askew, Lynne Seymour, Imre J. Holb, Harald Scherm

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

Characterization of spatial patterns of plant disease can provide insights into important epidemiological processes such as sources of inoculum, mechanisms of dissemination, and reproductive strategies of the pathogen population. While two-dimensional patterns of disease (among plants within fields) have been studied extensively, there is limited information on three-dimensional patterns within individual plant canopies. Reported here are the detailed mapping of different symptom types of brown rot (caused by Monilinia laxa) in individual sour cherry tree (Prunus cerasus) canopies, and the application of spatial statistics to the resulting data points to de-termine patterns of symptom aggregation and association. …

Role Of The Sexual Cycle In Development Of Genotypic And Phenotypic Diversity In Gibberella Zeae, Sladana Bec

Theses and Dissertations--Plant Pathology

Gibberella zeae (anamorph Fusarium graminearum) is a homothallic ascomycete pathogen that is responsible for causing Fusarium head blight (FHB) of wheat and small grains. In addition to causing a reduction in yield, harvested grain is frequently contaminated with trichothecene mycotoxins that are harmful for human and animal health. Use of wheat varieties with resistance to FHB is an important strategy to lower its impact. In order to produce varieties with durable resistance, we must understand the origin and degree of genetic diversity present in the pathogen population. In my research, I focused my efforts on an investigation of the …

Control Of Glucosylceramide Production And Morphogenesis By The Bar1 Ceramide Synthase In Fusarium Graminearum, William B. Rittenour, Ming Chen, Edgar B. Cahoon, Steven D. Harris

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

The contribution of plasma membrane proteins to the virulence of plant pathogenic fungi is poorly understood. Accordingly, the objective of this study was to characterize the acyl-CoA dependent ceramide synthase Bar1 (previously implicated in plasma membrane organization) in the wheat pathogen Fusarium graminearum. The role of Bar1 in mediating cell membrane organization was confirmed as DBAR1 mutants failed to display a distinct sterol-rich domain at the hyphal tip. The DBAR1 mutants were non-pathogenic when inoculated onto wheat heads, and their in vitro growth also was severely perturbed. DBAR1 mutants were incapable of producing perithecia (sexual fruiting structures) and only produced …