The sorting nexin FgAtg20 is involved in the Cvt pathway, non-selective macroautophagy, pexophagy and pathogenesis in Fusarium graminearum.

Wuyun Lv, Zhe Xu, Nicholas J Talbot, Zhengyi Wang

Cellular microbiology 2020 Aug

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The sorting nexin Atg20/Snx42 plays an important role in autophagy. The wheat head blight pathogen Fusarium graminearum contains an FgAtg20 protein orthologous to Saccharomyces cerevisiae Atg20/Snx42, but its function remains largely unknown. Here, we report a role for FgAtg20 in regulating morphogenesis and fungal pathogenicity. Cytological observation and Western blot analysis revealed that ΔFgAtg20 mutants are defective in vacuolar transport and proteolysis of GFP-FgAtg8, indicating that FgAtg20 is required for non-selective macroautophagy. Furthermore, we found that FgATG20 is necessary for the maturation of FgApe1, an indicator of the cytoplasm-to-vacuole targeting (Cvt) pathway. Immunoblot analysis displayed lower level of FgPex14, a peroxisomal integral membrane protein in ΔFgAtg20 mutants, suggesting that pexophagy is impaired. Furthermore, we demonstrate that FgAtg20 forms a complex with FgAtg1, FgAtg11, FgAtg17 and FgAtg24. When considered together, we conclude that FgAtg20 plays a critical role in vegetative growth, conidiation and pathogenicity of the head blight pathogen, and is involved in the Cvt pathway, non-selective macroautophagy and pexophagy. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Citation

Wuyun Lv, Zhe Xu, Nicholas J Talbot, Zhengyi Wang. The sorting nexin FgAtg20 is involved in the Cvt pathway, non-selective macroautophagy, pexophagy and pathogenesis in Fusarium graminearum. Cellular microbiology. 2020 Aug;22(8):e13208