The Cysteine Protease CfAtg4 Interacts with CfAtg8 to Govern the Growth, Autophagy and Pathogenicity of <i>Colletotrichum fructicola</i>
2024
Shufeng Guo | Shengpei Zhang
<i>Camellia oleifera</i> is a native woody oil plant in southern China and is infected with anthracnose wherever it is grown. We previously identified <i>Colletotrichum fructicola</i> as the major causal agent of anthracnose on <i>C. oleifera</i> and found that CfAtg8 regulates the pathogenicity and development of <i>C. fructicola</i>. Here, we revealed that CfAtg4 interacts with CfAtg8, contributing to the formation of autophagosomes. The CfAtg8<sup>1–160</sup> allele, which only contains 1–160 amino acids of the CfAtg8, partially recovered the autophagosome numbers and autophagy defects of the Δ<i>Cfatg4</i> mutant. Consequently, these recoveries resulted in the restoration of the defects of the Δ<i>Cfatg4</i> mutant in growth and responses to different external stresses, albeit to an extent. Importantly, we illustrated the critical roles of CfAtg8<sup>1–160</sup> in appressoria formation, and pathogenicity. Collectively, our findings provide new insights into the importance of the interaction between CfAtg8 and CfAtg4 in the growth, autophagy and pathogenicity of the phytopathogenic fungi.
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