Deficiency of the melanin biosynthesis genes SCD1 and THR1 affects sclerotial development and vegetative growth, but not pathogenicity, in Sclerotinia sclerotiorum
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Summary: The fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is a necrotrophic plant pathogen causing significant damage on a broad range of crops. This fungus produces sclerotia that serve as the long‐term survival structures in the life cycle and the primary inoculum in the disease cycle. Melanin plays an important role in protecting mycelia and sclerotia from ultraviolet radiation and other adverse environmental conditions. In this study, two genes, SCD1 encoding a scytalone dehydratase and THR1 encoding a trihydroxynaphthalene reductase, were disrupted by target gene replacement, and their roles in mycelial growth, sclerotial development and fungal pathogenicity were investigated. Phylogenetic analyses indicated that the deduced amino acid sequences of SCD1 and THR1 were similar to the orthologues of Botrytis cinerea . Expression of SCD1 was at higher levels in sclerotia relative to mycelia. THR1 was expressed at similar levels in mycelia and sclerotia at early stages, but was up‐regulated in sclerotia at the maturation stage. Disruption of SCD1 or THR1 did not change the pathogenicity of the fungus, but resulted in slower radial growth, less biomass, wider angled hyphal branches, impaired sclerotial development and decreased resistance to ultraviolet light.
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Melanin is non-essential for virulence in Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and Zymoseptoria tritici, suggesting that there is no clear correlation between melanin biosynthesis capacity and pathogenicity in these fungal species.
“Additionally, melanin has been shown to be non-essential for virulence in Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and Zymoseptoria tritici, suggesting that there is no clear correlation between melanin biosynthesis capacity and pathogenicity in these fungal species [73,74].”
From Fungal Melanin in Plant Pathogens: Complex Biosynthesis Pathways and Diverse Biological Functions (2025) · cites this paper as [73]
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Research works printed but not linked: 3
- Butler, M.J. and Day, A.W. (1998) Fungal melanins: a review. Can. J. Microbiol. 44, 1115-1136.
- Fan, H., Yu, G., Liu, Y., Zhang, X., Liu, J., Zhang, Y., Rollins, J.A., Sun, F. and Pan, H. (2016) An atypical forkhead-containing transcription factor SsFKH1 is involved in sclerotial formation and is essential for pathogenicity in Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. Mol. Plant Pathol. 18, 963-975 doi:10.1111/mpp.12453. · DOI
- Townsend, B.B. and Willetts, H.J. (1954) The development of sclerotia in certain fungi. Trans. Br. Mycol. Soc. 37, 213-221.
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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
- Liang, Y., Xiong, W., Steinkellner, S., & Feng, J.
- Affiliations
- Shenyang Agricultural University (CN)
- Chongqing University (CN)
- BOKU University (AT)
- Alberta Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Liang, Yue
- Venue
- Molecular Plant Pathology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2018-01-30
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1444-1453
- ISSN
- 1364-3703 (ISSN-L)
- 1464-6722
- PMC
- PMC6638068
- OpenAlex
- W2763205003
- Cited by
- 73
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 2
- FWCI
- 3.82
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Molecular Plant Pathology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Scientific Research Foundation for the Introduced Talents of Shenyang Agricultural University (20153040)
- Natural Science Foundation Project of CQ CSTC (2011BB1101)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Plant pathogens and resistance mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › Plant Pathogens and Fungal Diseases
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Fungal and yeast genetics research
- Keywords
- Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, melanogenesis, stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1, scytalone dehydratase, sclerotial development, vegetative growth, fungal pathogenicity, UV resistance, gene disruption, gene expression
- MeSH terms
- Ascomycota, Fungal Proteins, Hydro-Lyases, Melanins, Ultraviolet Rays, Hyphae
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