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Amino acid uptake in rust fungi

Christine Struck1

  • 1Group Crop Health, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Rostock , Rostock, Germany.

Frontiers in Plant Science
|February 21, 2015
PubMed

Insights

Rust fungi are plant pathogens that feed on hosts without killing them. This review surveys their nitrogen nutrition, focusing on amino acid uptake mechanisms and transporters essential for biotrophic growth.

Area of Science:

  • Plant Pathology
  • Molecular Biology
  • Mycology

Background:

  • Rust fungi are obligate biotrophs, colonizing plant leaves and feeding on hosts without causing immediate death.
  • They develop intercellular hyphae and intracellular haustoria for nutrient acquisition and suppression of host defenses.
  • Economically important genera like Melampsora and Puccinia are studied to understand obligate biotrophy.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review nitrogen nutrition in rust fungi, with a specific focus on amino acid uptake.
  • To survey identified amino acid transporter genes and their characterized functions.
  • To provide insights into metabolic pathways related to amino acid transport in rust fungi.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review of published studies on rust fungi nitrogen nutrition and amino acid transport.
  • Analysis of sequence data from genome projects to identify amino acid transporter genes.
  • Functional and immunohistochemical characterization of specific amino acid permeases.

Main Results:

  • Numerous rust amino acid transporter genes have been identified through genome sequencing.
  • In silico analysis classified these genes into different transporter families.
  • Functional studies characterized the specificity and localization of three in planta highly up-regulated amino acid permeases.

Conclusions:

  • Amino acid transporters play crucial roles in rust fungi's obligate biotrophic lifestyle.
  • Genetic and molecular data offer new insights into rust fungi's metabolic pathways and nutrient acquisition.
  • Further characterization of identified transporters is essential for understanding rust-host interactions.
Keywords:
biotrophyhaustoriumnitrogennutritionplant pathogen

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