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Eukaryotic Cell, March 2007, p. 546-554, Vol. 6, No. 3
1535-9778/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/EC.00330-05
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Expression of Magnaporthe grisea Avirulence Gene ACE1 Is Connected to the Initiation of Appressorium-Mediated Penetration

Isabelle Fudal, Jérôme Collemare, Heidi U. Böhnert, Delphine Melayah, and Marc-Henri Lebrun^*

UMR2847 CNRS-Bayer CropScience, Lyon, France

Received 25 October 2005/ Accepted 10 November 2006

Magnaporthe grisea is responsible for a devastating fungal disease of rice called blast. Current control of this disease relies on resistant rice cultivars that recognize M. grisea signals corresponding to specific secreted proteins encoded by avirulence genes. The M. grisea ACE1 avirulence gene differs from others, since it controls the biosynthesis of a secondary metabolite likely recognized by rice cultivars carrying the Pi33 resistance gene. Using a transcriptional fusion between ACE1 promoter and eGFP, we showed that ACE1 is only expressed in appressoria during fungal penetration into rice and barley leaves, onion skin, and cellophane membranes. ACE1 is almost not expressed in appressoria differentiated on Teflon and Mylar artificial membranes. ACE1 expression is not induced by cellophane and plant cell wall components, demonstrating that it does not require typical host plant compounds. Cyclic AMP (cAMP) signaling mutants cpkA and mac1 sum1-99 and tetraspanin mutant pls1::hph differentiate melanized appressoria with normal turgor but are unable to penetrate host plant leaves. ACE1 is normally expressed in these mutants, suggesting that it does not require cAMP signaling or a successful penetration event. ACE1 is not expressed in appressoria of the buf1::hph mutant defective for melanin biosynthesis and appressorial turgor. The addition of hyperosmotic solutes to buf1::hph appressoria restores appressorial development and ACE1 expression. Treatments of young wild-type appressoria with actin and tubulin inhibitors reduce both fungal penetration and ACE1 expression. These experiments suggest that ACE1 appressorium-specific expression does not depend on host plant signals but is connected to the onset of appressorium-mediated penetration.

Published ahead of print on 1 December 2006.

Present address: PMDV, UR256, INRA, Route de Saint Cyr, F-78026 Versailles, France.

Present address: Symbiose Mycorhizienne, UMR5557 CNRS-UCBL-INRA, Université Lyon 1, 43 boulevard du 11 novembre 1918, 69622 Villeurbanne cedex, France.