Journal
MYCOLOGIA
Volume 102, Issue 6, Pages 1221-1228Publisher
TAYLOR & FRANCIS INC
DOI: 10.3852/09-041
Keywords
blue-light regulation; Cercospora species; conidiation; light entrainment; periodicity; temperature compensation; white collar ortholog
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Funding
- USDA-ARS CRIS [3602-22000-015-00D]
- NSF [0920287]
- Univ. Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station
- UA Department of Plant Pathology Adair/Bollenbacher
- Division Of Integrative Organismal Systems
- Direct For Biological Sciences [0920287] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Many metabolic and developmental processes in fungi are controlled by biological rhythms. Circadian rhythms approximate a daily (24 h) cycle and have been thoroughly studied in the model fungus, Neurospora crassa. However relatively few examples of true circadian rhythms have been documented among other filamentous fungi. In this study we describe a circadian rhythm underlying hyphal melanization in Cercospora kikuchii, an important pathogen of soybean. After growth in light or light: dark cycles, colonies transferred to darkness produced zonate bands of melanized hyphae interspersed with bands of hyaline hyphae. Rhythmic production of bands was remarkably persistent in the absence of external cues, lasting at least 7 d after transfer to darkness, and was compensated over a range of temperatures. As in N. crassa, blue light but not red light was sufficient to entrain the circadian rhythm in C. kikuchii, and a putative ortholog of white collar-1, one of the genes required for light responses in N. crassa, was identified in C. kikuchii. Circadian regulation of melanization is conserved in other members of the genus: Similar rhythms were identified in another field isolate of C. kikuchii as well as field isolates of C. beticola and C. sorghi, but not in wild-type strains of C. zeae-maydis or C. zeina. This report represents the first documented circadian rhythm among Dothideomycete fungi and provides a new opportunity to dissect the molecular basis of circadian rhythms among filamentous fungi.
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