Two transcription factors cooperatively regulate DHN melanin biosynthesis and development in Pestalotiopsis fici
Open accessAbstract
Summary: Fungal 1,8‐dihydroxynaphthalene (DHN) melanin plays important roles in UV protection, oxidative stress and pathogenesis. However, knowledge of the regulatory mechanisms of its biosynthesis is limited. Previous studies showed two transcription factors, PfmaF and PfmaH, located in the DHN melanin biosynthetic gene cluster (Pfma) in Pestalotiopsis fici. In this study, deletion of PfmaH resulted in loss of melanin and affected conidia cell wall integrity. Specifically, PfmaH directly regulates the expression of scytalone dehydratase, which catalyzes the transition of scytalone to T 3 HN. However, PfmaF disruption using CRISPR/Cas9 system affected neither DHN melanin distribution nor conidia cell wall integrity in P. fici. Unexpectedly, overexpression of PfmaF leads to heavy pigment accumulation in P. fici hyphae. Transcriptome and qRT‐PCR analyses provide insight into the roles of PfmaF and PfmaH in DHN melanin regulation. PfmaH, as a pathway specific regulator, mainly regulates melanin biosynthesis that contributes to cell wall development. Furthermore, PfmaF functions as a broad regulator to stimulate PfmaH expression in melanin production, secondary metabolism as well as fungal development.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
DHN melanin is widely recognized as a virulence factor in numerous pathogenic fungi, playing a crucial role in pathogenesis.
“DHN melanin is widely recognized as a virulence factor in numerous pathogenic fungi, playing a crucial role in pathogenesis [35,36,37].”
From Fungal Melanin in Plant Pathogens: Complex Biosynthesis Pathways and Diverse Biological Functions (2025) · cites this paper as [37]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Aspergillus Cell Wall Melanin Blocks LC3-Associated Phagocytosis to Promote Pathogenicity
Akoumianaki, T., Kyrmizi, I., Valsecchi, I., Gresnigt, M. S., Samonis, G., Drakos, E., Boumpas, D., Muszkieta, L., Prevost, M.-C., Kontoyiannis, D. P., et al. (2016) · Cell Host & Microbe · doi:10.1016/j.chom.2015.12.002 · Cited by 218 · see citing works
Hydrolytic Polyketide Shortening by Ayg1p, a Novel Enzyme Involved in Fungal Melanin Biosynthesis
Fujii, I., Yasuoka, Y., Tsai, H.-F., Chang, Y. C., Kwon-Chung, K. J., & Ebizuka, Y. (2004) · Journal of Biological Chemistry · doi:10.1074/jbc.m406758200 · Cited by 105 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 16
- Butler, M.J. and Day, A.W. (1998) Fungal melanins: a review. Canadian Journal of Microbiology, 44, 1115-1136.
- Chiang, Y.M., Ahuja, M., Oakley, C.E., Entwistle, R., Asokan, A. and Zutz, C. (2016) Development of genetic dereplica- tion srains in Aspergillus nidulans results in the discov- ery of aspercryptin. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 55, 1662-1665.
- Cho, Y., Srivastava, A., Ohm, R.A., Lawrence, C.B., Wang, K.H., Grigoriev, I.V., et al. (2012) Transcription factor Amr1 induces melanin biosynthesis and suppresses virulence in Alternaria brassicicola. PLoS Path, 8(10), e1002974.
- Colot, H.V., Park, G., Turner, G.E., Ringelberg, C., Crew, C.M., Litvinkova, L., et al. (2006) A high-throughput gene knockout procedure for Neurospora reveals functions for multiple transcription factors. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 103, 10352-10357.
- Henson, J.M., Butler, M.J. and Day, A.W. (1999) The dark side of the mycelium: melanins of phytopathogenic fungi. Annual Review of Phytopathology, 37, 447-471.
- Husain, S.M., Schatzle, M.A., Rohr, C., Ludeke, S. and Muller, M. (2012) Biomimetic asymmetric synthesis of (R)- GTRI-02 and (3S,4R)-3,4-Dihydroxy-3,4-dihydronaph- thalen-1(2H)-ones. Organic Letters, 14, 3600-3603.
- Husain, S.M., Schatzle, M.A., Ludeke, S. and Muller, M. (2014) Unprecedented role of hydronaphthoquinone tau- tomers in biosynthesis. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 53, 9806-9811.
- Kihara, J., Moriwaki, A., Tanaka, N., Tanaka, C., Ueno, M. and Arase, S. (2008) Characterization of the BMR1 gene encoding a transcription factor for melanin biosynthesis genes in the phytopathogenic fungus Bipolaris oryzae. FEMS Microbiology Letters, 281, 221-227.
- Kimura, N. and Tsuge, T. (1993) Gene cluster involved in melanin biosynthesis of the filamentous fungus Alternaria alternata. Journal of Bacteriology, 175, 4427-4435.
- Rasmussen, J.B. and Hanau, R.M. (1989) Exogenous scy- talone restores appressorial melanization and pathoge- nicity in albino mutants of Colletotrichum graminicola. Canadian Journal of Plant Pathology Revue Canadienne De Phytopathologie, 11, 349-352.
- Takano, Y., Kubo, Y., Kawamura, C., Tsuge, T. and Furusawa, I. (1997) The Alternaria alternata melanin biosynthesis gene restores appressorial melanization and penetration of cellulose membranes in the melanin-deficient albino © 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Molecular Microbiology, 112, 649-666 mutant of Colletotrichum lagenarium. Fungal Genetics and Biology, 21, 131-140.
- Thompson, J.E., Fahnestock, S., Farrall, L., Liao, D.I., Valent, B. and Jordan, D.B. (2000) The second naphthol reductase of fungal melanin biosynthesis in Magnaporthe grisea -Tetrahydroxynaphthalene reductase. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 275, 34867-34872.
- Tsai, H.F., Wheeler, M.H., Chang, Y.C. and Kwon-Chung, K.J. (1999) A developmentally regulated gene cluster in- volved in conidial pigment biosynthesis in Aspergillus fu- migatus. Journal of Bacteriology, 181, 6469-6477.
- Tsai, H.F., Fujii, I., Watanabe, A., Wheeler, M.H., Chang, Y.C., Yasuoka, Y., et al. (2001) Pentaketide melanin biosynthesis in Aspergillus fumigatus requires chain- length shortening of a heptaketide precursor. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 276, 29292-29298.
- Wheeler, M.H. (1983) Comparisons of fungal melanin bio- synthesis in ascomycetous, imperfect and basidiomycet- ous fungi. Transactions of the British Mycological Society, 81, 29-36.
- Wu, G., Zhou, H., Zhang, P., Wang, X., Li, W., Zhang, W., et al. (2016) Polyketide production of pestaloficiols and mac- rodiolide ficiolides revealed by manipulations of epigen- etic regulators in an endophytic fungus. Organic Letters, 18, 1832-1835.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Fungal Melanin in Plant Pathogens: Complex Biosynthesis Pathways and Diverse Biological Functions
Jia, H., Liu, N., Zhang, L., Li, P., Meng, Y., Yuan, W., Li, H., Tantai, D., Qu, Q., Cao, Z., et al. (2025) · Plants · doi:10.3390/plants14142121 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
- Authors
- Zhang, P., Zhou, S., Wang, G., An, Z., Liu, X., Li, K., & Yin, W.
- Affiliations
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases (US)
- Corresponding author
- Yin, Wen‐Bing
- Venue
- Molecular Microbiology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2019-06-03
- Volume
- 112
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 649-666
- ISSN
- 0950-382X (ISSN-L)
- 1365-2958
- OpenAlex
- W2945078557
- Cited by
- 47
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 1
- FWCI
- 2.05
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Molecular Microbiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (31700070, 31861133004)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Fungal and yeast genetics research
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Biotechnology › Microbial Metabolism and Applications
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Microbial Natural Products and Biosynthesis
- Keywords
- melanogenesis, transcription factors, scytalone dehydratase, fungal development, secondary metabolism, gene regulatory networks, UV protection
- MeSH terms
- Fungal Proteins, Melanins, Naphthols, Xylariales, Spores, Fungal, Transcription Factors, Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal, Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental, Biosynthetic Pathways
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
