Organisms Commons^™

Repeat Elements Organise 3d Genome Structure And Mediate Transcription In The Filamentous Fungus Epichloë Festucae, David J. Winter, Austen R. D. Ganley, Carolyn A. Young, Ivan Liachko, Christopher L. Schardl, Pierre-Yves Dupont, Daniel Berry, Arvina Ram, Barry Scott, Murray P. Cox

Plant Pathology Faculty Publications

Structural features of genomes, including the three-dimensional arrangement of DNA in the nucleus, are increasingly seen as key contributors to the regulation of gene expression. However, studies on how genome structure and nuclear organisation influence transcription have so far been limited to a handful of model species. This narrow focus limits our ability to draw general conclusions about the ways in which three-dimensional structures are encoded, and to integrate information from three-dimensional data to address a broader gamut of biological questions. Here, we generate a complete and gapless genome sequence for the filamentous fungus, Epichloë festucae. We use Hi-C …

Deletion Of Endo-Β-1,4-Xylanase Vmxyl1 Impacts The Virulence Of Valsa Mali In Apple Tree, Chunlei Yu, Ting Li, Xiangpeng Shi, Muhammad Saleem, Baohua Li, Wenxing Liang, Caixia Wang

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

Valsa mali, a parasitic fungus, is a destructive pathogen of apple tree that causes heavy economic losses in China. The pathogen secretes various cell wall-degrading enzymes (CWDEs) that degrade plant cell-wall components, and thus facilitate its entry into host cells. Therefore, functional analysis of the genes encoding CWDEs is necessary to understand virulence of V. mali toward apple tree. Here, we identified and cloned an endo-β-1,4-xylanase gene, VmXyl1 in V. mali. The full-length cDNA of VmXyl1 is 1626 bp containing 5′- and 3′-non-coding regions, as well an open reading frame of 1320 bp that encodes a protein with …

Recombinant Promoter (Muascsv8cp) Driven Totiviral Killer Protein 4 (Kp4) Imparts Resistance Against Fungal Pathogens In Transgenic Tobacco, Debasish Deb, Ankita Shrestha, Indu B. Maiti, Nrisingha Dey

Kentucky Tobacco Research and Development Center Faculty Publications

Development of disease-resistant plant varieties achieved by engineering anti-microbial transgenes under the control of strong promoters can suffice the inhibition of pathogen growth and simultaneously ensure enhanced crop production. For evaluating the prospect of such strong promoters, we comprehensively characterized the full-length transcript promoter of Cassava Vein Mosaic Virus (CsVMV; -565 to +166) and identified CsVMV8 (-215 to +166) as the highest expressing fragment in both transient and transgenic assays. Further, we designed a new chimeric promoter ‘MUASCsV8CP’ through inter-molecular hybridization among the upstream activation sequence (UAS) of Mirabilis Mosaic Virus (MMV; -297 to -38) and CsVMV8, as the core …

Central Nervous System Histoplasmosis: Multicenter Retrospective Study On Clinical Features, Diagnostic Approach And Outcome Of Treatment, Joseph Wheat, Thein Myint, Ying Guo, Phebe Kemmer, Chadi A. Hage, Colin Terry, Marwan M. Azar, James Riddell, Peter Ender, Sharon Chen, Kareem Shehab, Kerry Cleveland, Eden Esguerra, James Johnson, Patty Wright, Vanja Douglas, Pascalis Vergidis, Winnie Ooi, John Baddley, David Bamberger, Raed N. Khairy, Holenarasipur R. Vikram, Elizabeth Jenny-Avital, Geetha Sivasubramanian, Karen Bowlware, Barbara Pahud, Juan Sarria, Townson Tsai, Maha Assi, Satish Mocherla

Internal Medicine Faculty Publications

Central nervous system (CNS) involvement occurs in 5 to 10% of individuals with disseminated histoplasmosis. Most experience has been derived from small single center case series, or case report literature reviews. Therefore, a larger study of central nervous system (CNS) histoplasmosis is needed in order to guide the approach to diagnosis, and treatment.

A convenience sample of 77 patients with histoplasmosis infection of the CNS was evaluated. Data was collected that focused on recognition of infection, diagnostic techniques, and outcomes of treatment.

Twenty nine percent of patients were not immunosuppressed. Histoplasma antigen, or anti-Histoplasma antibodies were detected in the …

Acquisition Of Functions On The Outer Capsid Surface During Evolution Of Double-Stranded Rna Fungal Viruses, Carlos P. Mata, Daniel Luque, Josué Gómez-Blanco, Javier M. Rodríguez, José M. González, Nobuhiro Suzuki, Said A. Ghabrial, José L. Carrascosa, Benes L. Trus, José R. Castón

Plant Pathology Faculty Publications

Unlike their counterparts in bacterial and higher eukaryotic hosts, most fungal viruses are transmitted intracellularly and lack an extracellular phase. Here we determined the cryo-EM structure at 3.7 Å resolution of Rosellinia necatrix quadrivirus 1 (RnQV1), a fungal double-stranded (ds)RNA virus. RnQV1, the type species of the family Quadriviridae, has a multipartite genome consisting of four monocistronic segments. Whereas most dsRNA virus capsids are based on dimers of a single protein, the ~450-Å-diameter, T = 1 RnQV1 capsid is built of P2 and P4 protein heterodimers, each with more than 1000 residues. Despite a lack of sequence similarity between …

The Trophic Life Cycle Stage Of The Opportunistic Fungal Pathogen Pneumocystis Murina Hinders The Ability Of Dendritic Cells To Stimulate Cd4+ T Cell Responses, Heather M. Evans, Andrew Simpson, Shu Shen, Arnold J. Stromberg, Carol L. Pickett, Beth A. Garvy

Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics Faculty Publications

The life cycle of the opportunistic fungal pathogen Pneumocystis murina consists of a trophic stage and an ascus-like cystic stage. Infection with the cyst stage induces proinflammatory immune responses, while trophic forms suppress the cytokine response to multiple pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs), including β-glucan. A targeted gene expression assay was used to evaluate the dendritic cell response following stimulation with trophic forms alone, with a normal mixture of trophic forms and cysts, or with β-glucan. We demonstrate that stimulation with trophic forms downregulated the expression of multiple genes normally associated with the response to infection, including genes encoding …

Swainsonine Biosynthesis Genes In Diverse Symbiotic And Pathogenic Fungi, Daniel Cook, Bruno G. G. Donzelli, Rebecca Creamer, Deana L. Baucom, Dale R. Gardner, Juan Pan, Neil Moore, Stuart B. Krasnoff, Jerzy W. Jaromczyk, Christopher L. Schardl

Plant Pathology Faculty Publications

Swainsonine—a cytotoxic fungal alkaloid and a potential cancer therapy drug—is produced by the insect pathogen and plant symbiont Metarhizium robertsii, the clover pathogen Slafractonia leguminicola, locoweed symbionts belonging to Alternaria sect. Undifilum, and a recently discovered morning glory symbiont belonging to order Chaetothyriales. Genome sequence analyses revealed that these fungi share orthologous gene clusters, designated “SWN,” which included a multifunctional swnKgene comprising predicted adenylylation and acyltransferase domains with their associated thiolation domains, a β-ketoacyl synthase domain, and two reductase domains. The role of swnK was demonstrated by inactivating it in M. robertsii through homologous …

Draft Genome Sequence Of Cercospora Sojina Isolate S9, A Fungus Causing Frogeye Leaf Spot (Fls) Disease Of Soybean, Fanchang Zeng, Chaofan Wang, Guirong Zhang, Junmei Wei, Carl A. Bradley, Ray Ming

Plant Pathology Faculty Publications

Fungi are the causal agents of many of the world's most serious plant diseases causing disastrous consequences for large-scale agricultural production. Pathogenicity genomic basis is complex in fungi as multicellular eukaryotic pathogens. The fungus Cercospora sojina is a plant pathogen that threatens global soybean supplies. Here, we report the genome sequence of C. sojina strain S9 and detect genome features and predicted genomic elements. The genome sequence of C. sojina is a valuable resource with potential in studying the fungal pathogenicity and soybean host resistance to frogeye leaf spot (FLS), which is caused by C. sojina. …

A Comparative Genomic Analysis Of Putative Pathogenicity Genes In The Host-Specific Sibling Species Colletotrichum Graminicola And Colletotrichum Sublineola, Ester A. S. Buiate, Katia Viana Xavier, Neil Moore, Maria F. Torres, Mark L. Farman, Christopher L. Schardl, Lisa J. Vaillancourt

Plant Pathology Faculty Publications

Background: Colletotrichum graminicola and C. sublineola cause anthracnose leaf and stalk diseases of maize and sorghum, respectively. In spite of their close evolutionary relationship, the two species are completely host-specific. Host specificity is often attributed to pathogen virulence factors, including specialized secondary metabolites (SSM), and small-secreted protein (SSP) effectors. Genes relevant to these categories were manually annotated in two co-occurring, contemporaneous strains of C. graminicola and C. sublineola. A comparative genomic and phylogenetic analysis was performed to address the evolutionary relationships among these and other divergent gene families in the two strains.

Results: Inoculation of maize with C. sublineola …

The Confounding Effects Of Particle Size And Substrate Bulk Density On Phanerochaete Chrysosporium Pretreatment On Panicum Virgatum, Amanda N. Hickman, Sue E. Nokes, William S. Sympson, Mathew J. Ruwaya, Michael D. Montross, Barbara L. Knutson

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Phanerochaete chrysosporium treatment is less effective as a biological pretreatment on feedstock with larger particle sizes. We hypothesized that the improved effectiveness of the pretreatment when smaller particle sizes are used may be due to the inherently higher bulk density with smaller particle sizes. The effects of substrate bulk density and particle size on the efficacy of P. chrysosporium pretreatment of switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) was tested experimentally. Phanerochaete chrysosporium was grown on senesced switchgrass (2 different particle sizes) with various bulk densities. In all treatments, the fungal-pretreated samples released more glucose during enzymatic saccharification than the control sample. …

Submerged And Solid-State Phytase Fermentation By Aspergillus Niger: Effects Of Agitation And Medium Viscosity On Phytase Production, Fungal Morphology And Inoculum Performance, Maria Papagianni, Sue E. Nokes, Keith Filer

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Qualitative relationships between agitation levels and medium viscosity, Aspergillus niger morphology and phytase production were investigated in submerged and solid-state fermentations. Overall phytase production increased with increasing shaker speeds from 150 to 300 rpm, although specific growth rates and phytase production rates were higher at 150 rpm for 72 h from inoculation. Fungal morphology was greatly influenced by agitation with the morphological forms of small pellets and entangled mycelia predominating at 150 rpm, while the free filamentous form was obtained at 300 rpm. Upon inoculation of SSF, increased productivities were obtained from inocula grown at 150 rpm. A shift towards …