A Histone Deacetylase, MoHDA1 Regulates Asexual Development and Virulence in the Rice Blast Fungus

Interplay between histone acetylation and deacetylation is one of the key components in epigenetic regulation of transcription. Here we report the requirement of Mo-HDA1-mediated histone deacetylation during asexual development and pathogenesis for the rice blast fungus, Magnaporthe oryzae. Structural similarity and phylogenetic analysis suggested that MoHDA1 is an ortholog of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Hda1, which is a representative member of class II histone deacetylases. Targeted deletion of MoHDA1 caused a little decrease in radial growth and large reduction in asexual sporulation. Comparison of acetylation levels for H3K9 and H3K14 showed that lack of MoHDA1 gene led to significant increase in H3K9 and H3K14 acetylation level, compared to the wild-type and complementation strain, confirming that it is a bona fide histone deacetylase. Expression analysis on some of the key genes involved in asexual reproduction under sporulation-promoting condition showed almost no differences among strains, except for MoCON6 gene, which was up-regulated more than 6-fold in the mutant than wild-type. Although the deletion mutant displayed little defects in germination and subsequent appressorium formation, the mutant was compromised in its ability to cause disease. Woundinoculation showed that the mutant is impaired in invasive growth as well. We found that the mutant was defective in appressorium-mediated penetration of host, but did not lose the ability to grow on the media containing H2O2. Taken together, our data suggest that MoHDA1-dependent histone deacetylation is important for efficient asexual development and infection of host plants in M. oryzae.