Date of Graduation
5-2023
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science in Biology
Degree Level
Undergraduate
Department
Biological Sciences
Advisor/Mentor
Egan, Martin
Committee Member/Reader
Bailey, Tameka
Committee Member/Second Reader
Lewis, Jeffrey
Committee Member/Third Reader
Davidson, Fiona
Abstract
The plant pathogenic fungus Magnaporthe oryzae forms a specialized pressure-generating infection cell called an appressorium on the leaf surface, which it uses to mechanically rupture the otherwise impenetrable cuticle, enabling colonization of the underlying tissue and the establishment of blast disease. Appressorium differentiation by M. oryzae is cell cycle-regulated and requires programmed cell death of a three-celled propagative spore, as well as extensive remodeling of the microtubule, actin, and septin cytoskeletons. Recent studies have proposed the importance of sumoylation – the enzymatic conjugation of a small ubiquitin-like modifier to target proteins, for various aspects of infection-related development by M. oryzae, including the formation of septin ring-like structures within the base of appressoria, through direct sumoylation of four core septin proteins. Here, using fluorescence microscopy-based live-cell imaging of sumoylation-deficient M. oryzae mutants, we determine the importance of global sumoylation for key stages of appressorium morphogenesis in vitro, including nuclear division and the formation and remodeling of higher-order septin structures. Together, our data provide new perspective on the importance of sumoylation for infection-related development by the blast fungus.
Keywords
sumoylation, Uba2, septins, cell cycle
Citation
Taylor, R. (2023). Investigating the role of the SUMO-activating enzyme, Uba2, in infection-related morphogenesis of Magnaporthe oryzae. Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/biscuht/79