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Eukaryotic Cell, August 2009, p. 1155-1164, Vol. 8, No. 8
1535-9778/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/EC.00335-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Roles of the Glyoxylate and Methylcitrate Cycles in Sexual Development and Virulence in the Cereal Pathogen Gibberella zeae{triangledown} ,{dagger}

Seung-Ho Lee,1 You-Kyoung Han,2 Sung-Hwan Yun,3* and Yin-Won Lee1*

Department of Agricultural Biotechnology and Centers for Fungal Pathogenesis and Agricultural Biomaterials, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-921, South Korea,1 Horticultural & Herbal Crop Environment Division, National Institute of Horticultural & Herbal Science, Rural Development Administration, Suwon 441-440, South Korea,2 Department of Medical Biotechnology, Soonchunhyang University, Asan 336-745, South Korea3

Received 4 October 2008/ Accepted 1 June 2009

The glyoxylate and methylcitrate cycles are involved in the metabolism of two- or three-carbon compounds in fungi. To elucidate the role(s) of these pathways in Gibberella zeae, which causes head blight in cereal crops, we focused on the functions of G. zeae orthologs (GzICL1 and GzMCL1) of the genes that encode isocitrate lyase (ICL) and methylisocitrate lyase (MCL), respectively, key enzymes in each cycle. The deletion of GzICL1 ({Delta}GzICL1) caused defects in growth on acetate and in perithecium (sexual fruiting body) formation but not in virulence on barley and wheat, indicating that GzICL1 acts as the ICL of the glyoxylate cycle and is essential for self-fertility in G. zeae. In contrast, the {Delta}GzMCL1 strains failed to grow on propionate but exhibited no major changes in other traits, suggesting that GzMCL1 is required for the methylcitrate cycle in G. zeae. Interestingly, double deletion of both GzICL1 and GzMCL1 caused significantly reduced virulence on host plants, indicating that both GzICL1 and GzMCL1 have redundant functions for plant infection in G. zeae. Thus, both GzICL1 and GzMCL1 may play important roles in determining major mycological and pathological traits of G. zeae by participating in different metabolic pathways for the use of fatty acids.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address for Yin-Won Lee: Department of Agricultural Biotechnology and Centers for Fungal Pathogenesis and Agricultural Biomaterials, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-921, South Korea. Phone: (82) 2 880 4671. Fax: (82) 2 873 2317. E-mail: lee2443{at}snu.ac.kr. Mailing address for Sung-Hwan Yun: Department of Medical Biotechnology, Soonchunhyang University, Asan 336-745, South Korea. Phone: (82) 41 530 1288. Fax: (82) 41 530 3085. E-mail: sy14{at}sch.ac.kr

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 12 June 2009.

{dagger} Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://ec.asm.org/.

Eukaryotic Cell, August 2009, p. 1155-1164, Vol. 8, No. 8
1535-9778/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/EC.00335-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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