Live‐cell imaging of rice cytological changes reveals the importance of host vacuole maintenance for biotrophic invasion by blast fungus, Magnaporthe oryzae

The rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae grows inside living host cells. Cytological analyses by live‐cell imaging have revealed characteristics of the biotrophic invasion, particularly the extrainvasive hyphal membrane (EIHM) originating from the host plasma membrane and a host membrane‐rich structure, biotrophic interfacial complex (BIC). Here, we observed rice subcellular changes associated with invasive hyphal growth using various transformants expressing specifically localized fluorescent proteins. The invasive hyphae did not penetrate across but were surrounded by the host vacuolar membrane together with EIHM even after branching. High‐resolution imaging of BICs revealed that the host cytosol was accumulated at BIC with aggregated EIHM and a symplastic effector, Pwl2, in a punctate form. The vacuolar membrane did not aggregate in but closely surrounded the BIC. A good correlation was observed between the early collapse of vacuoles and damage of invasive hyphae in the first‐invaded cell. Furthermore, a newly developed, long‐term imaging method has revealed that the central vacuole gradually shrank until collapse, which was caused by the hyphal invasion occurring earlier in the neighboring cells than in the first‐invaded cells. These data suggest that M. oryzae may suppress host vacuole collapse during early infection stages for successful infection.