Pinggen Xi;Tianfang Guan;Xiyuan Liu;Xiaofeng Li;Ziyuan Dou;Liyun Shi;Jiamin Huang;Liqun Jiang;Junjian Situ;Minhui Li;Guanghui Kong;Zide Jian

Rice Research Institute, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences / Guangdong Key Laboratory of New Technology in Rice Breeding, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510640, China;Department of Plant Pathology / Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Microbial Signals and Disease Control, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510642, China;Department of Plant Pathology / Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Microbial Signals and Disease Control, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510642, Chin

plmfs1;litchii;regulated;impaired;plm90;deletio

Major facilitator superfamily (MFS) transporters are secondary active membrane transporters that play an important role in solute interchange and energy metabolism. Peronophythora litchii causes the most destructive disease on lichi, litchi downy blight. PlM90 was reported as a key oosporogenesis regulator. Here, we identified an MFS transporter gene PlMFS1, which is up-regulated during oospore formation at the late infection stage, while down-regulated in the PlM90 mutant. To investigate PlMFS1 function, we generated PlMFS1 knockout mutants using CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing technology. Compared with the wild-type strain SHS3, PlMFS1 deletion impaired mycelium growth, zoospore release, oospore production and pathogenicity. Furthermore, PlMFS1 deletion significantly affected P. litchii utilization of fructose, lactose and maltose, and may be the PlMFS1 mechanism involved in mycelial growth. PlMFS1 gene deletion also led to deceased laccase activity, laccase-encoding gene downregulation and impaired P. litchii pathogenicity. To our knowledge, this is the first report of an MFS transporter involved in sugar utilization, sexual reproduction, asexual reproduction and pathogenesis in oomycetes.