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The Elongator Subunit Elp3 Regulates Development, Stress Tolerance, Cell Cycle, and Virulence in the Entomopathogenic Fungus Beauveria bassiana

Authors :
Qing Cai
Juanjuan Wang
Jiatao Xie
Daohong Jiang
Nemat O. Keyhani
Source :
Journal of Fungi, Vol 8, Iss 8, p 834 (2022)
Publication Year :
2022
Publisher :
MDPI AG, 2022.

Abstract

Transcriptional activity is mediated by chromatin remodeling, which in turn is affected by post-translational modifications, including histone acetylation. Histone acetyltransferases (HATs) are capable of promoting euchromatin formation and then activating gene transcription. Here, we characterize the Elp3 GNAT family HAT, which is also a subunit of Elongator complex, in the environmentally and economically important fungal insect pathogen, Beauveria bassiana. BbElp3 showed high localization levels to mitochondria, with some nuclear and cytoplasmic localization also apparent. Targeted gene knockout of BbElp3 resulted in impaired asexual development and morphogenesis, reduced tolerances to multiple stress conditions, reduced the ability of the fungus to utilize various carbon/nitrogen sources, increased susceptibility to rapamycin, and attenuated virulence in bioassays using the greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella. The ΔBbElp3 mutant also showed disrupted cell cycle, abnormal hyphal septation patterns, and enlarged autophagosomes in vegetative hyphae. Transcriptome analyses revealed differential expression of 775 genes (DEGs), including 336 downregulated and 438 upregulated genes in the ΔBbElp3 strain as compared to the wild type. Downregulated genes were mainly enriched in pathways involved in DNA processing and transcription, cell cycle control, cellular transportation, cell defense, and virulence, including hydrophobins, cellular transporters (ABC and MFS multidrug transporters), and insect cuticular degrading enzymes, while upregulated genes were mainly enriched in carbohydrate metabolism and amino acid metabolism. These data indicate pleiotropic effects of BbElp3 in impacting specific cellular processes related to asexual development, cell cycle, autophagy, and virulence.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
2309608X
Volume :
8
Issue :
8
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Journal of Fungi
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.83c8b5cb1264c9fbd2802e761cad2e7
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3390/jof8080834