2. Academic Validation
  3. Glutamate dehydrogenase MoGDH2 modulates the environmental and host pH to enhance adaptation and virulence of the rice blast fungus Pyricularia oryzae

Glutamate dehydrogenase MoGDH2 modulates the environmental and host pH to enhance adaptation and virulence of the rice blast fungus Pyricularia oryzae

  • Int J Biol Macromol. 2025 May;308(Pt 2):142465. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2025.142465.
Chang Ma 1,  Rui Zhao 2,  Shi-Wang Li 3,  Jianhui Zhao 4,  Zhishuo Jia 5,  Liu Tang 6,  Yue Song 7,  Rui-Jin Wang 8,  Jun Yang 9,  You-Liang Peng 10
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 MARA Key Laboratory of Pest Monitoring and Green Management, Department of Plant Pathology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China. Electronic address: b20203190879@cau.edu.cn.
  • 2 MARA Key Laboratory of Pest Monitoring and Green Management, Department of Plant Pathology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China. Electronic address: zhry@cau.edu.cn.
  • 3 MARA Key Laboratory of Pest Monitoring and Green Management, Department of Plant Pathology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China; MARA Key Laboratory of Surveillance and Management for Plant Quarantine Pests, Department of Plant Biosecurity, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China. Electronic address: lisw_1223@163.com.
  • 4 MARA Key Laboratory of Pest Monitoring and Green Management, Department of Plant Pathology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China; MARA Key Laboratory of Surveillance and Management for Plant Quarantine Pests, Department of Plant Biosecurity, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China. Electronic address: zhaojianhui1028@163.com.
  • 5 MARA Key Laboratory of Pest Monitoring and Green Management, Department of Plant Pathology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China. Electronic address: ZB20183190919@cau.edu.cn.
  • 6 MARA Key Laboratory of Pest Monitoring and Green Management, Department of Plant Pathology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China. Electronic address: tangliu@cau.edu.cn.
  • 7 MARA Key Laboratory of Pest Monitoring and Green Management, Department of Plant Pathology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China. Electronic address: song_yue@sjtu.edu.cn.
  • 8 MARA Key Laboratory of Pest Monitoring and Green Management, Department of Plant Pathology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China; MARA Key Laboratory of Surveillance and Management for Plant Quarantine Pests, Department of Plant Biosecurity, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China. Electronic address: wangruij@cau.edu.cn.
  • 9 MARA Key Laboratory of Pest Monitoring and Green Management, Department of Plant Pathology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China; MARA Key Laboratory of Surveillance and Management for Plant Quarantine Pests, Department of Plant Biosecurity, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China. Electronic address: yangj@cau.edu.cn.
  • 10 MARA Key Laboratory of Pest Monitoring and Green Management, Department of Plant Pathology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China. Electronic address: pengyl@cau.edu.cn.
PMID: 40139586 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2025.142465
Abstract

pH adaptation and modulation are essential for the survival and Infection of Fungal pathogens. Pyricularia oryzae is a hemi-biotrophic Fungal pathogen causes devastating blast disease on rice. How P. oryzae achieves host pH alkalization during the biotrophic-infection stage is unclear. Here, we characterized the NAD+-glutamate dehydrogenase encoding gene MoGDH2 in P. oryzae. The Δmogdh2 mutant failed to utilize glutamate to release NH3 and alkalize the environmental pH. MoGDH2 mediated pH homeostasis under acidic conditions but not alkaline environments. During glutamate utilization and fungal Infection, MoGDH2 exhibited high expression levels, and modulated host pH at biotrophic stage. The apoplastic pH of host cells infected by wild-type strain P131 was sharply acidified at 24 h post inoculation (hpi), and the cytoplasmic pH gradually increased from 24 to 36 hpi. In comparison, the pH change patterns disappeared in cells infected by Δmogdh2. Furthermore, MoGDH2 is critical for Reactive Oxygen Species tolerance and virulence, which is regulated via phosphorylation at the T47 site. Protein kinase MoDbf2 directly interacted with and phosphorylated MoGDH2. This study sheds new light on the function of MoGDH2 in pH modulation and Infection.

Keywords

Biotrophic pH modulation; Fungal pathogen; Glutamate dehydrogenase; Pathogenicity; Phosphorylation.

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