Qin, L.; Gong, X.; Nong, J.; Tang, X.; Cui, K.; Zhao, Y.; Xia, S. Histone Methyltransferase SsDim5 Regulates Fungal Virulence through H3K9 Trimethylation in Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. J. Fungi2024, 10, 271.
Qin, L.; Gong, X.; Nong, J.; Tang, X.; Cui, K.; Zhao, Y.; Xia, S. Histone Methyltransferase SsDim5 Regulates Fungal Virulence through H3K9 Trimethylation in Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. J. Fungi 2024, 10, 271.
Qin, L.; Gong, X.; Nong, J.; Tang, X.; Cui, K.; Zhao, Y.; Xia, S. Histone Methyltransferase SsDim5 Regulates Fungal Virulence through H3K9 Trimethylation in Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. J. Fungi2024, 10, 271.
Qin, L.; Gong, X.; Nong, J.; Tang, X.; Cui, K.; Zhao, Y.; Xia, S. Histone Methyltransferase SsDim5 Regulates Fungal Virulence through H3K9 Trimethylation in Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. J. Fungi 2024, 10, 271.
Abstract
Histone post-translational modification is one of the main mechanisms of epigenetic regulation, which plays a crucial role in the control of gene expression and various biological processes. However, whether or not it affects fungal virulence is not clear in Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. In this study, we identified and cloned the histone methyltransferase Defective in methylation 5 (Dim5) in S. sclerotiorum, which encodes a protein containing a typical SET domain. SsDim5 was found to be dynamically expressed during infection. Knockout experiment demonstrated that deletion of SsDim5 reduced the virulence in Ssdim5-1/Ssdim5-2 mutant strains, accompanied by a significant decrease in H3K9 trimethylation levels. Transcriptomic analysis further revealed the downregulation of genes associated with mycotoxins biosynthesis in SsDim5 deletion mutants. Additionally, the absence of SsDim5 affected the fungus's response to oxidative and osmotic, as well as cellular integrity. Together, our results indicate that the H3K9 methyltransferase SsDim5 is essential for H3K9 trimethylation, which regulating fungal virulence to host plants through impacting on mycotoxins biosynthesis, and the response to environmental stresses in S. sclerotiorum.
Keywords
S. sclerotiorum; Pathogenicity; Histone methylation; Mycotoxins; Stress.
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Biology and Biotechnology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
