Colors in the dark

Plants have the ability to regulate their growth and development according to available light (Li et al., 2012). Light perception occurs through photoreceptors, such as phytochromes, cryptochromes, and phototropins, that translate the signal inside cells where arrays of transcription factors repress or activate genes required for cellular processes (Kong and Okajima, 2016; Mawphlang and Kharshiing, 2017). One of these processes is the regulation of pigment synthesis, including chlorophylls and carotenoids

The phosphorylation landscape of infection-related development by the rice blast fungus

Many of the world’s most devastating crop diseases are caused by fungal pathogens that elaborate specialized infection structures to invade plant tissue. Here, we present a quantitative mass-spectrometry-based phosphoproteomic analysis of infection-related development by the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae, which threatens global food security. We mapped 8,005 phosphosites on 2,062 fungal proteins following germination on a hydrophobic surface, revealing major re-wiring of phosphorylation-based signaling cascades during appressorium development. Comparing phosphosite conservation across 41 fungal species reveals phosphorylation signatures specifically associated with biotrophic and hemibiotrophic fungal infection. We then used parallel reaction monitoring (PRM) to identify phosphoproteins regulated by the fungal Pmk1 MAPK that controls plant infection by M. oryzae. We define 32 substrates of Pmk1 and show that Pmk1-dependent phosphorylation of regulator Vts1 is required for rice blast disease. Defining the phosphorylation landscape of infection therefore identifies potential therapeutic interventions for the control of plant diseases

Plant genes and processes required for the necrotic response to BcNEP proteins

Ingeniería AgronómicaNekazaritza Ingeniaritz