Abstract
Sustainable crop production is constantly challenged by the rapid evolution of fungal pathogens equipped with an array of host infection strategies and survival mechanisms. One of the devastating fungal pathogens that infect lentil is the ascomycete Ascochyta lentis which causes black spot or ascochyta blight (AB) on all above ground parts of the plant. In order to explore the mechanisms involved in the pathogenicity of A. lentis, we developed a targeted gene replacement method using Agrobacterium tumefaciens mediated transformation (ATMT) to study and characterize gene function. In this study, we investigated the role of scytalone dehydratase (SCD) in the synthesis of 1,8-dihydroxynaphthalene (DHN)-melanin in AlKewell. Two SCD genes have been identified in AlKewell, AlSCD1 and AlSCD2. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that AlSCD1 clustered with the previously characterized fungal SCDs; thus, AlSCD1 was disrupted using the targeted gene replacement vector, pTAR-hyg-SCD1. The vector was constructed in a single step process using Gibson Assembly, which facilitated an easy and seamless assembly of multiple inserts. The resulting AlKewell scd1::hyg transformants appeared light brown/brownish-pink in contrast to the dark brown pycnidia of the WT strain and ectopic transformant, indicating an altered DHN-melanin production. Disruption of AlSCD1 gene did not result in a change in the virulence profile of AlKewell towards susceptible and resistant lentil varieties. This is the first report of a targeted gene manipulation in A. lentis which serves as a foundation for the functional gene characterization to provide a better understanding of molecular mechanisms involved in pathogen diversity and host specificity.
Abstract from the paper’s OpenAlex record; open copy licensed cc-by. Read at the source ↗
The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.
Claims 4
Claim · model-written summary
Two SCD genes, AlSCD1 and AlSCD2, were identified in AlKewell.
- Taxon
- lentil
Lens culinarise1 - Interactor
- AlKewelle0pathogen
- Gene
- AlSCD1 and AlSCD2e0
- Outcome
- Two SCD genes have been identifiede0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Two SCD genes have been identified in AlKewell, AlSCD1 and AlSCD2.”
e1“infect lentil”
Claim · model-written summary
AlSCD1 clustered with previously characterized fungal SCDs.
- Taxon
- lentilLens culinarise1
- Interactor
- Ascochyta lentisAscochyta lentise2pathogen
- Gene
- AlSCD1e0
- Outcome
- clustered with the previously characterized fungal SCDse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“AlSCD1 clustered with the previously characterized fungal SCDs”
e1“infect lentil”
e2“Ascochyta lentis”
Claim · model-written summary
AlSCD1-disrupted transformants had light brown or brownish-pink pycnidia rather than dark brown pycnidia.
- Taxon
- lentilLens culinarise1
- Treatment
- scd1::hyg transformantse0
- Interactor
- AlKewelle0pathogen
- Outcome
- light brown/brownish-pinke0
- Comparator
- WT strain and ectopic transformante0
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The resulting AlKewell scd1::hyg transformants appeared light brown/brownish-pink in contrast to the dark brown pycnidia of the WT strain and ectopic transformant”
e1“infect lentil”
Claim · model-written summary
Disrupting AlSCD1 did not change AlKewell virulence toward susceptible or resistant lentil varieties.
- Taxon
- lentilLens culinarise0
- Treatment
- Disruption of AlSCD1 genee0
- Interactor
- AlKewelle0pathogen
- Gene
- AlSCD1e0
- Outcome
- virulence profile of AlKewelle0
- Direction
- did not result in a changee0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Disruption of AlSCD1 gene did not result in a change in the virulence profile of AlKewell towards susceptible and resistant lentil varieties.”
The same questions in other papers
loss of function · disease · Lens culinaris (lentil)Positive and negative results
1 in the opposite direction
- positive
Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.