A fungal member of the Arabidopsis thaliana phyllosphere antagonizes Albugo laibachii via a GH25 lysozyme

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Abstract

Plants are not only challenged by pathogenic organisms, but also colonized by commensal microbes. The network of interactions these microbes establish with their host and amongst each other is suggested to contribute to the immune responses of plants against pathogens. In wild Arabidopsis thaliana populations, the oomycete pathogen Albugo laibachii plays an influential role in structuring the leaf phyllosphere. We show that the epiphytic yeast Moesziomyces bullatus ex Albugo on Arabidopsis, a close relative of pathogenic smut fungi, is an antagonistic member of the A. thaliana phyllosphere, which reduces infection of A. thaliana by A. laibachii. Combination of transcriptomics, reverse genetics and protein characterization identified a GH25 hydrolase with lysozyme activity as a major effector of this microbial antagonism. Our findings broaden the understanding of microbial interactions within the phyllosphere, provide insights into the evolution of epiphytic basidiomycete yeasts and pave the way for novel biocontrol strategies.

Data availability

Genome information and RNA sequencing have been submitted to NCBI Genbank and are available under the following links: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/query/acc.cgi?acc=GSE148670

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Katharina Eitzen

Institute for Plant Sciences and Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences (CEPLAS), University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Priyamedha Sengupta

Institute for Plant Sciences and Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences (CEPLAS), University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Samuel Kroll

AG Kemen, Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Cologne, Germany

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Eric Kemen

Center for Plant Molecular Biology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

For correspondence
eric.kemen@uni-tuebingen.de

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Gunther Doehlemann

Institute for Plant Sciences and Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences (CEPLAS), University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

For correspondence
g.doehlemann@uni-koeln.de

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-7353-8456

Funding

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SPP 2125 DECRyPT)

Katharina Eitzen
Priyamedha Sengupta

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (EXC-2048/1,Project ID 390686111)

Katharina Eitzen

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Copyright

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.