Eukaryotic Cell
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Eukaryotic Cell, April 2008, p. 675-683, Vol. 7, No. 4
1535-9778/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/EC.00423-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Anastomosis Is Required for Virulence of the Fungal Necrotroph Alternaria brassicicola{triangledown}

Kelly D. Craven,1,{dagger} Heriberto Vélëz,1 Yangrae Cho,2 Christopher B. Lawrence,2 and Thomas K. Mitchell1*

Center for Integrated Fungal Research, Department of Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina,1 Virginia Bioinformatics Institute, Blacksburg, Virginia2

Received 19 November 2007/ Accepted 18 February 2008

A fungal mycelium is typically composed of radially extending hyphal filaments interconnected by bridges created through anastomoses. These bridges facilitate the dissemination of nutrients, water, and signaling molecules throughout the colony. In this study, we used targeted gene deletion and nitrate utilization mutants of the cruciferous pathogen Alternaria brassicicola and two closely related species to investigate hyphal fusion (anastomosis) and its role in the ability of fungi to cause disease. All eight of the A. brassicicola isolates tested, as well as A. mimicula and A. japonica, were capable of self-fusion, with two isolates of A. brassicicola being capable of non-self-fusion. Disruption of the anastomosis gene homolog (Aso1) in A. brassicicola resulted in both the loss of self-anastomosis and pathogenicity on cabbage. This finding, combined with our discovery that a previously described nonpathogenic A. brassicicola mutant defective for a mitogen-activated protein kinase gene (amk1) also lacked the capacity for self-anastomosis, suggests that self-anastomosis is associated with pathogenicity in A. brassicicola.

* Corresponding author. Present address: Department of Plant Pathology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210. Phone: (614) 292-1728. Fax: (614) 292-4455. E-mail: mitchell.815{at}osu.edu

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 29 February 2008.

{dagger} Present address: Plant Biology Division, Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, Ardmore, OK 73401.

Eukaryotic Cell, April 2008, p. 675-683, Vol. 7, No. 4
1535-9778/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/EC.00423-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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