Cargando…

A Sesquiterpene Synthase from the Endophytic Fungus Serendipita indica Catalyzes Formation of Viridiflorol

Interactions between plant-associated fungi and their hosts are characterized by a continuous crosstalk of chemical molecules. Specialized metabolites are often produced during these associations and play important roles in the symbiosis between the plant and the fungus, as well as in the establishm...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Ntana, Fani, Bhat, Wajid W., Johnson, Sean R., Jørgensen, Hans J. L., Collinge, David B., Jensen, Birgit, Hamberger, Björn
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8234273/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34208762
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biom11060898
_version_ 1783714045781606400
author Ntana, Fani
Bhat, Wajid W.
Johnson, Sean R.
Jørgensen, Hans J. L.
Collinge, David B.
Jensen, Birgit
Hamberger, Björn
author_facet Ntana, Fani
Bhat, Wajid W.
Johnson, Sean R.
Jørgensen, Hans J. L.
Collinge, David B.
Jensen, Birgit
Hamberger, Björn
author_sort Ntana, Fani
collection PubMed
description Interactions between plant-associated fungi and their hosts are characterized by a continuous crosstalk of chemical molecules. Specialized metabolites are often produced during these associations and play important roles in the symbiosis between the plant and the fungus, as well as in the establishment of additional interactions between the symbionts and other organisms present in the niche. Serendipita indica, a root endophytic fungus from the phylum Basidiomycota, is able to colonize a wide range of plant species, conferring many benefits to its hosts. The genome of S. indica possesses only few genes predicted to be involved in specialized metabolite biosynthesis, including a putative terpenoid synthase gene (SiTPS). In our experimental setup, SiTPS expression was upregulated when the fungus colonized tomato roots compared to its expression in fungal biomass growing on synthetic medium. Heterologous expression of SiTPS in Escherichia coli showed that the produced protein catalyzes the synthesis of a few sesquiterpenoids, with the alcohol viridiflorol being the main product. To investigate the role of SiTPS in the plant-endophyte interaction, an SiTPS-over-expressing mutant line was created and assessed for its ability to colonize tomato roots. Although overexpression of SiTPS did not lead to improved fungal colonization ability, an in vitro growth-inhibition assay showed that viridiflorol has antifungal properties. Addition of viridiflorol to the culture medium inhibited the germination of spores from a phytopathogenic fungus, indicating that SiTPS and its products could provide S. indica with a competitive advantage over other plant-associated fungi during root colonization.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8234273
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-82342732021-06-27 A Sesquiterpene Synthase from the Endophytic Fungus Serendipita indica Catalyzes Formation of Viridiflorol Ntana, Fani Bhat, Wajid W. Johnson, Sean R. Jørgensen, Hans J. L. Collinge, David B. Jensen, Birgit Hamberger, Björn Biomolecules Article Interactions between plant-associated fungi and their hosts are characterized by a continuous crosstalk of chemical molecules. Specialized metabolites are often produced during these associations and play important roles in the symbiosis between the plant and the fungus, as well as in the establishment of additional interactions between the symbionts and other organisms present in the niche. Serendipita indica, a root endophytic fungus from the phylum Basidiomycota, is able to colonize a wide range of plant species, conferring many benefits to its hosts. The genome of S. indica possesses only few genes predicted to be involved in specialized metabolite biosynthesis, including a putative terpenoid synthase gene (SiTPS). In our experimental setup, SiTPS expression was upregulated when the fungus colonized tomato roots compared to its expression in fungal biomass growing on synthetic medium. Heterologous expression of SiTPS in Escherichia coli showed that the produced protein catalyzes the synthesis of a few sesquiterpenoids, with the alcohol viridiflorol being the main product. To investigate the role of SiTPS in the plant-endophyte interaction, an SiTPS-over-expressing mutant line was created and assessed for its ability to colonize tomato roots. Although overexpression of SiTPS did not lead to improved fungal colonization ability, an in vitro growth-inhibition assay showed that viridiflorol has antifungal properties. Addition of viridiflorol to the culture medium inhibited the germination of spores from a phytopathogenic fungus, indicating that SiTPS and its products could provide S. indica with a competitive advantage over other plant-associated fungi during root colonization. MDPI 2021-06-16 /pmc/articles/PMC8234273/ /pubmed/34208762 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biom11060898 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Ntana, Fani
Bhat, Wajid W.
Johnson, Sean R.
Jørgensen, Hans J. L.
Collinge, David B.
Jensen, Birgit
Hamberger, Björn
A Sesquiterpene Synthase from the Endophytic Fungus Serendipita indica Catalyzes Formation of Viridiflorol
title A Sesquiterpene Synthase from the Endophytic Fungus Serendipita indica Catalyzes Formation of Viridiflorol
title_full A Sesquiterpene Synthase from the Endophytic Fungus Serendipita indica Catalyzes Formation of Viridiflorol
title_fullStr A Sesquiterpene Synthase from the Endophytic Fungus Serendipita indica Catalyzes Formation of Viridiflorol
title_full_unstemmed A Sesquiterpene Synthase from the Endophytic Fungus Serendipita indica Catalyzes Formation of Viridiflorol
title_short A Sesquiterpene Synthase from the Endophytic Fungus Serendipita indica Catalyzes Formation of Viridiflorol
title_sort sesquiterpene synthase from the endophytic fungus serendipita indica catalyzes formation of viridiflorol
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8234273/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34208762
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biom11060898
work_keys_str_mv AT ntanafani asesquiterpenesynthasefromtheendophyticfungusserendipitaindicacatalyzesformationofviridiflorol
AT bhatwajidw asesquiterpenesynthasefromtheendophyticfungusserendipitaindicacatalyzesformationofviridiflorol
AT johnsonseanr asesquiterpenesynthasefromtheendophyticfungusserendipitaindicacatalyzesformationofviridiflorol
AT jørgensenhansjl asesquiterpenesynthasefromtheendophyticfungusserendipitaindicacatalyzesformationofviridiflorol
AT collingedavidb asesquiterpenesynthasefromtheendophyticfungusserendipitaindicacatalyzesformationofviridiflorol
AT jensenbirgit asesquiterpenesynthasefromtheendophyticfungusserendipitaindicacatalyzesformationofviridiflorol
AT hambergerbjorn asesquiterpenesynthasefromtheendophyticfungusserendipitaindicacatalyzesformationofviridiflorol
AT ntanafani sesquiterpenesynthasefromtheendophyticfungusserendipitaindicacatalyzesformationofviridiflorol
AT bhatwajidw sesquiterpenesynthasefromtheendophyticfungusserendipitaindicacatalyzesformationofviridiflorol
AT johnsonseanr sesquiterpenesynthasefromtheendophyticfungusserendipitaindicacatalyzesformationofviridiflorol
AT jørgensenhansjl sesquiterpenesynthasefromtheendophyticfungusserendipitaindicacatalyzesformationofviridiflorol
AT collingedavidb sesquiterpenesynthasefromtheendophyticfungusserendipitaindicacatalyzesformationofviridiflorol
AT jensenbirgit sesquiterpenesynthasefromtheendophyticfungusserendipitaindicacatalyzesformationofviridiflorol
AT hambergerbjorn sesquiterpenesynthasefromtheendophyticfungusserendipitaindicacatalyzesformationofviridiflorol