Setosphaeria turcica ATR turns off appressorium‐mediated maize infection and triggers melanin‐involved self‐protection in response to genotoxic stress
Open accessAbstract
Eukaryotic organisms activate conserved signalling networks to maintain genomic stability in response to DNA genotoxic stresses. However, the coordination of this response pathway in fungal pathogens remains largely unknown. In the present study, we investigated the mechanism by which the northern corn leaf blight pathogen Setosphaeria turcica controls maize infection and activates self‐protection pathways in response to DNA genotoxic insults. Appressorium‐mediated maize infection by S. turcica was blocked by the S‐phase checkpoint. This repression was dependent on the checkpoint central kinase Ataxia Telangiectasia and Rad3 related (ATR), as inhibition of ATR activity or knockdown of the ATR gene recovered appressorium formation in the presence of genotoxic reagents. ATR promoted melanin biosynthesis in S. turcica as a defence response to stress. The melanin biosynthesis genes StPKS and StLac2 were induced by the ATR‐mediated S‐phase checkpoint. The responses to DNA genotoxic stress were conserved in a wide range of phytopathogenic fungi, including Cochliobolus heterostrophus , Cochliobolus carbonum , Alternaria solani , and Alternaria kikuchiana , which are known causal agents for plant diseases. We propose that in response to genotoxic stress, phytopathogenic fungi including S. turcica activate an ATR‐dependent pathway to suppress appressorium‐mediated infection and induce melanin‐related self‐protection in addition to conserved responses in eukaryotes.
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Melanin synthesis is regulated by the transcription factor StMbp1 in Setosphaeria turcica, which activates expression by binding the CGCG motif in the StPKS promoter, promoting melanin accumulation.
“Melanin synthesis is regulated by the transcription factor StMbp1 in Setosphaeria turcica, which activates expression by binding the CGCG motif in the StPKS promoter, promoting melanin accumulation [30].”
From Fungal Melanin in Plant Pathogens: Complex Biosynthesis Pathways and Diverse Biological Functions (2025) · cites this paper as [30]
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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
Self-citation
- Authors
- Zeng, F., Meng, Y., Hao, Z., Li, P., Zhai, W., shen, S., Cao, Z., & Dong, J.
- Affiliations
- Hebei Agricultural University (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Zeng, Fanli
- Venue
- Molecular Plant Pathology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2020-01-08
- Volume
- 21
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 401-414
- ISSN
- 1364-3703 (ISSN-L)
- 1464-6722
- PMC
- PMC7036364
- OpenAlex
- W2999759797
- Cited by
- 27
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 1
- FWCI
- 1.38
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Molecular Plant Pathology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Earmarked Fund for China Agriculture Research System (CARS‐02‐25)
- Hebei Agricultural University (2018KYYJ01)
- Research and Development (2018YFD0200607, ZD201622, 2018KYYJ01)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Fungal and yeast genetics research
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › Plant Pathogens and Fungal Diseases
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Plant Disease Resistance and Genetics
- Keywords
- Setosphaeria turcica, northern corn leaf blight, appressorium formation, ATR kinase, S-phase checkpoint, melanogenesis, plant pathogenic fungi, genome stability, plant-pathogen interaction
- MeSH terms
- Bipolaris, Alternaria, Ascomycota, Bacterial Proteins, Zea mays, DNA Damage, Melanins, Phosphotransferases, Plant Diseases, Cell Cycle Proteins, Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated Proteins
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