Impact of Epigenetic Regulatory Genes on Biological Functions in Magnaporthe oryzae the Causal Agent of Rice Blast Disease

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Agricultural Botany Department, Faculty of Agriculture (Saba Basha), Alexandria University, Alexandria 21531, Egypt.

2 State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology and Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Pathology of Hubei Province, College of Plant Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.

Abstract

Magnaporthe oryzae is a heterotrophic plant pathogenic fungus that developed the capability to colonies of living plant cells, A lot of genes play key roles in biological function, especially during the invasion process and bio-trophic growth. but the mechanisms through which they establish bio-trophic growth by modifying gene expression are still unclear, we conducted an integrated analysis involving PRC2 genes which includes this description focusing on SUZ 12, EZH2 and EED1 proteins, revealing its crucial effect in the development and infection processes of the rice blast fungus, Magnaporthe oryzae. Deletion of SUZ 12, EZH2 and EED1 in M. oryzae resulted in a modest reduction in vegetative growth and a significant decrease in conidiation. Notably, the SUZ 12, EZH2 and EED1 mutants exhibited a marked reduction in virulence towards host plants. Observation of the infection process indicated that the mutants were halted in invasive growth, leading to the accumulation of substantial host reactive oxygen species (ROS). Additionally, the SUZ 12, EZH2 and EED1 mutants displayed sensitivity to cell wall-disturbing agents, These results suggest that the PRC2 complex plays an important role in bio-trophic growth, thereby facilitating invasive growth in M. oryzae

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