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Expression of Tri15 in Fusarium sporotrichioides

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Abstract

In the fungus Fusarium sporotrichioides, biosynthesis of trichothecene mycotoxins requires at least three genetic loci: a core 12-gene cluster, a smaller two-gene cluster, and a single-gene locus. Here, we describe the Tri15 gene, which represents a fourth locus involved in trichothecene biosynthesis. Tri15 is predicted to encode a Cys2-His2 zinc finger protein and is expressed in a manner similar to genes in the core trichothecene gene cluster. However, disruption of F. sporotrichioides Tri15 does not affect production of T-2 toxin, the major trichothecene produced by this fungus. This result suggests that Tri15 is not necessary for the production of toxin. Cultures with exogenously added T-2 toxin have high levels of Tri15 expression and no detectable expression of the trichothecene biosynthetic genes Tri5 and Tri6. The expression analysis is consistent with Tri15 being a negative regulator of at least some of the trichothecene biosynthetic genes. In F. graminearum, Tri15 has been mapped to linkage group 2 and is therefore unlinked to the main trichothecene biosynthetic gene cluster.

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Acknowledgments

We sincerely thank Robert Proctor for thoughtful and constructive comments on this manuscript. We also thank Kim McDonald and Nathan Blair for excellent technical assistance and Amy Morgan for primer synthesis and DNA sequencing. Thanks to Gary Muehlbauer, University of Minnesota, for sharing unpublished results. Names are necessary to report factually on available data. However, the USDA neither guarantees nor warrants the standard of the products; and the use of the name by the USDA implies no approval of the product to the exclusion of others that may also be suitable.

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Correspondence to Nancy J. Alexander.

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Communicated by U. Kück

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Alexander, N.J., McCormick, S.P., Larson, T.M. et al. Expression of Tri15 in Fusarium sporotrichioides . Curr Genet 45, 157–162 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00294-003-0467-3

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