Functional Analysis of Autophagy-Related Gene <i>ATG12</i> in Potato Dry Rot Fungus <i>Fusarium oxysporum</i>

• Main Authors: A. Rehman Khalid, Shumin Zhang, Xiumei Luo, Hamayun Shaheen, Afshan Majeed, Mehdi Maqbool, Noosheen Zahid, Junaid Rahim, Maozhi Ren, Dan Qiu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-05-01
• Series: International Journal of Molecular Sciences
• Subjects: autophagy; <i>FoATG12</i>; <i>F. oxysporum</i>; potato dry rot; virulence; filamentous fungi
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/22/9/4932

Autophagy is an intracellular process in all eukaryotes which is responsible for the degradation of cytoplasmic constituents, recycling of organelles, and recycling of proteins. It is an important cellular process responsible for the effective virulence of several pathogenic plant fungal strains, having critical impacts on important crop plants including potatoes. However, the detailed physiological mechanisms of autophagy involved in the infection biology of soil-borne pathogens in the potato crop needs to be investigated further. In this study, the autophagy-related gene, <i>FoATG12</i>, in potato dry rot fungus <i>Fusarium oxysporum</i> was investigated by means of target gene replacement and overexpression. The deletion mutant ∆<i>FoATG12</i> showed reduction in conidial formation and exhibited impaired aerial hyphae. The <i>FoATG12</i> affected the expression of genes involved in pathogenicity and vegetative growth, as well as on morphology features of the colony under stressors. It was found that the disease symptoms were delayed upon being inoculated by the deletion mutant of <i>FoATG12</i> compared to the wild-type (WT) and overexpression (OE), while the deletion mutant showed the disease symptoms on tomato plants. The results confirmed the significant role of the autophagy-related <i>ATG12</i> gene in the production of aerial hyphae and the effective virulence of <i>F. oxysporum</i> in the potato crop. The current findings provid an enhanced gene-level understanding of the autophagy-related virulence of <i>F. oxysporum</i>, which could be helpful in pathogen control research and could have vital impacts on the potato crop.