A novel high-affinity sucrose transporter is required for virulence of the plant pathogen Ustilago maydis

Wahl R, Wippel K, Goos S, Kaemper J, Sauer N (2010)

Publication Language: English

Publication Status: Published

Publication Type: Journal article, Original article

Publication year: 2010

Journal

Plos Biology Public Library of Science

Book Volume: 8

Article Number: e1000303

Journal Issue: 2

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1000303

Open Access Link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2817709/

Abstract

Plant pathogenic fungi cause massive yield losses and affect both quality and safety of food and feed produced from infected plants. The main objective of plant pathogenic fungi is to get access to the organic carbon sources of their carbonautotrophic hosts. However, the chemical nature of the carbon source(s) and the mode of uptake are largely unknown. Here, we present a novel, plasma membrane-localized sucrose transporter (Srt1) from the corn smut fungus Ustilago maydis and its characterization as a fungal virulence factor. Srt1 has an unusually high substrate affinity, is absolutely sucrose specific, and allows the direct utilization of sucrose at the plant/fungal interface without extracellular hydrolysis and, thus, without the production of extracellular monosaccharides known to elicit plant immune responses. srt1 is expressed exclusively during infection, and its deletion strongly reduces fungal virulence. This emphasizes the central role of this protein both for efficient carbon supply and for avoidance of apoplastic signals potentially recognized by the host. © 2010 Wahl et al.

Authors with CRIS profile

Norbert Sauer Lehrstuhl für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie

Involved external institutions

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)

Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Wahl, R., Wippel, K., Goos, S., Kaemper, J., & Sauer, N. (2010). A novel high-affinity sucrose transporter is required for virulence of the plant pathogen Ustilago maydis. Plos Biology, 8(2). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1000303

MLA:

Wahl, Ramon, et al. "A novel high-affinity sucrose transporter is required for virulence of the plant pathogen Ustilago maydis." Plos Biology 8.2 (2010).

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