A gene identified from Neotyphodium lolii is expressed only in planta and regulates the biosynthesis of a putative oligopeptide secondary metabolite
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33584/rps.13.2006.3132Abstract
Endophytes, belonging to the genus Neotyphodium, live symptomlessly within the intercellular spaces of cool-season grasses, and confer a number of biotic and abiotic advantages to their hosts. We identified a novel endophyte gene (designated Nc25) that is expressed preferentially in planta, is one of the most abundant fungal transcripts in endopyte-infected grasses and which is distributed and highly expressed in a wide range of endophyte/ grass associations. Nc25 is novel and shows no homology to sequence databases or fungal genome initiatives. Characterisation indicates that it encodes a small secreted protein. Re-introduction of a Nc25 deletion strain into perennial ryegrass showed no visible effect on the symbiosis but an unknown oligopeptide, detected only in infected plants, was eliminated. Surprisingly, the oligopeptide is unrelated to the predicted peptide product of Nc25. We hypothesise that Nc25 may regulate the oligopeptide biosynthetic pathway and are investigating this using Affymetrix gene chips to determine how Nc25 affects global gene expression. In addition we are interested in the biological function of this secondary metabolite during symbiosis and in particular whether it has bioactivity that may confer abiotic or biotic advantages to the host plant. Keywords: Neotyphodium, in planta expressed gene, oligopeptide, EGFP
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