PeAP1-mediated oxidative stress response plays an important role in the growth and pathogenicity of Penicillium expansum

作者：Yong Chen, Yichen Zhang, Dongying Xu, Zhanquan Zhang, Boqiang Li, Shiping Tian · 发表于：Microbiology Spectrum · 年份：2023 · DOI：10.1128/spectrum.03808-22 · 被引用次数：13 · 研究领域：Plant-Microbe Interactions and Immunity、Mycotoxins in Agriculture and Food、Plant Stress Responses and Tolerance

ABSTRACT Penicillium expansum is the causal agent of post-harvest blue mold in various fruits and serves as a model for understanding fungal pathogenicity and mycotoxin production. The relevance of oxidative stress response in the growth and virulence of P. expansum has been largely unexplored. Here, we identify the transcriptional factor PeAP1 as a regulator of oxidative stress response in P. expansum . Gene expression and protein abundance of PeAP1, as well as its nuclear localization, are specifically induced by H 2 O 2 . Deletion of PeAP1 results in increased sensitivity to H 2 O 2 , and PeAP1 mutants exhibit a variety of defects in hyphal growth and virulence. PeAP1 prevents the accumulation of both intracellular H 2 O 2 during vegetative growth and host-derived H 2 O 2 during biotrophic growth. Application of an antioxidant glutathione and a NADPH oxidase inhibitor, diphenylene iodonium, to the PeAP1 mutant partially restored fungal growth and virulence. RNA sequencing analysis revealed 144 H 2 O 2 -induced PeAP1 target genes, including four antioxidant-related genes, PeGST1 , PePrx1 , PePrx2 , and PeTRX2 , that were also demonstrated to be involved in oxidative stress response and/or virulence. Collectively, our results demonstrate the global regulatory role of PeAP1 in response to oxidative stress and provide insights into the critical role of the PeAP1-mediated oxidative stress response to regulate growth and virulence of P. expansum . IMPORTANCE Reactive oxygen spec...