Multiomics Analyses Reveal the Complexity of Interaction between Two Strains of Magnaporthe oryzae

Plants growing in open environments are frequently coinfectedbymultiple strains of the same pathogen. However, few investigationshave been carried out to reveal the outcomes and underlying mechanismsof such infections. This study aimed to observe the behaviors of twodifferent strains under coinfection and cocultivation. We constructedan experimental system to study such interactions directly by labeling Magnaporthe oryzae strains with the green fluorescent proteinsand mushroom cherry fluorescent protein to observe mixed strain behavior in vivo and in vitro. Moreover, multiomicsanalyses were conducted to explore the underlying mechanisms at thegenomic, transcriptomic, and metabolomic levels. Our results revealedthat coinfection with two strains can affect disease severity andthat the more weakly virulent strain benefits from the coinfectionsystem. We also found that amino acid variation might negatively influencesuch interactions at transcriptomic and metabolomic levels. In addition,we showed that the overexpression of a glutamine-related gene improvedstrain competitiveness during mixture cultivation. Collectively, ourresults provided experimental methods to analyze the interaction betweentwo strains of M. oryzae and preliminarily exploredthe interacted mechanism of two strains under cocultivation throughmultiomics analyses.

Automated summary

This study examined the behaviors of two different strains of Magnaporthe oryzae in coinfection and cocultivation. By labeling the strains with fluorescent proteins, the researchers observed their interactions in vivo and in vitro. Multiomics analyses were used to explore the underlying mechanisms, revealing that coinfection can affect disease severity and that weaker strains can benefit from coinfection. Amino acid variation was also found to negatively impact the interactions at the transcriptomic and metabolomic levels, while the overexpression of a glutamine-related gene improved strain competitiveness during mixture cultivation.