A simple and effective method for total RNA isolation of appressoria in Magnaporthe oryzae

Appressorium formation is an important event in establishing a successful interaction between the rice blast fungus, Magnaporthe oryzae, and its host plant, rice. An understanding of molecular events occurring in appressorium differentiation will give new strategies to control rice blast. A quick and reliable method to extract total RNA from appressorium is essential for studying gene expression during appressorium formation and its mechanism. We found that duplicate film is an efficient substratum for appressorium formation, even when inoculated with high density conidia. When inoculated with conidia at 1 × 106 ml^-1, the percentages of conidium germination and appressorium formation were （97.98±0.67）% and （97.88±0.45）%, respectively. We applied Trizol before appressorium collection for total RNA isolation, and as much as 113.6 lag total RNA was isolated from the mature appressoria at 24 h after inoculation. Functional analysis of two genes, MNH6 and MgATG1, isolated from the cDNA subtractive library, revealed that the quantity of RNA was good enough to construct a cDNA （complementary DNA） library or a cDNA subtractive library. This method may be also applicable for the appressorium RNA isolation of other pathogenic fungi in which conidia differentiate into appressoria in the early stages of host infection.     

Investigation of the biological roles of autophagy in appressorium morphogenesis in Magnaporthe oryzae

Magnaporthe oryzae has been used as a primary model organism for investigating fungus-plant interaction. Many researches focused on molecular mechanisms of appressorium formation to restrain this fungal pathogen. Autophagy is a very high conserved process in eukaryotic cells. Recently, autophagy has been considered as a key process in development and differentiation in M. oryzae. In this report, we present and discuss the current state of our knowledge on gene expression in appressorium formation and the progress in autophagy of rice blast fungi.     

植物病原真菌侵染结构研究进展

对植物病原真菌侵染结构的研究近年愈受重视.笔者对植物病原真菌侵染结构的形成及其与寄主的互作关系进行了综述.病原真菌通常会产生侵染垫、附着胞和吸器等侵染结构来完成侵染寄主的过程.附着胞及其相伴形成的黑色素对病原真菌的侵染能力至关重要,其受遗传基因的控制,并受寄主表面结构、温度、pH值等环境因素的影响.吸器不仅是病原真菌吸收寄主营养的器官,也是寄主和病原真菌进行信息交换的区域.吸器外膜源于寄主质膜,但其结构和功能不同于寄主质膜,病原真菌与寄主的互作直接导致吸器超微结构的变化.研究植物病原真菌的侵染结构及其侵染机理,对植物侵染性病害的防治具有重要的参考价值.