Histone lysine acetylation is catalyzed by acetyltransferases (HATs), which is important in regulating gene expression and physiological function in eukaryotic cells. HATs can be classified into two main types: A- and B-type HATs. Recently, in Fusarium graminearum, it has been reported that A-type HATs are involved in hyphal development, conidiation, sexual reproduction and virulence. However, the biological roles of B-type HATs are unknown. Here we report the identification and characterization of two B-type HATs (FgHat1 and FgHat2) in F. graminearum. Targeted deletion of FgHAT1 did not result in any detectable phenotypes. However, ΔFghat2 mutants were severely defective in vegetative growth, conidia production and morphogenesis, deoxynivalenol (DON) biosynthesis and virulence. Interestingly, deletion of FgHAT2 resulted in significantly increased sensitivity to the DNA-damaging agent methyl methanesulfonate (MMS). Furthermore, double deletion mutants (ΔFghat1ΔFghat2) displayed similar phenotypes to the ΔFghat2 mutants. Taken together, we conclude that FgHat2 but not FgHat1 plays essential roles in regulating morphogenesis, DNA damage repair, DON production and virulence in F. graminearum.

组蛋白赖氨酸的乙酰化被乙酰基转移酶（HATs）催化，这在调节真核细胞中的基因表达和生理功能中很重要。HAT可以分为两种主要类型：A型和B型HAT。最近，在禾谷镰刀菌中，已经报道A型HAT与菌丝发育，分生，有性生殖和毒力有关。但是，B型HAT的生物学作用尚不清楚。在这里我们报告鉴定和表征的两个B型HAT（FgHat1和FgHat2）在禾谷镰刀菌中。FgHAT1的目标删除没有导致任何可检测的表型。但是，ΔFghat2突变体在营养生长，分生孢子产生和形态发生，脱氧雪腐烯醇（DON）的生物合成和毒力方面严重缺陷。有趣的是，FgHAT2的缺失导致对DNA破坏剂甲磺酸甲酯（MMS）的敏感性大大提高。此外，双缺失突变体（ΔFghat1ΔFghat2）表现出与ΔFghat2突变体相似的表型。两者合计，我们得出结论，FgHat2但不是FgHat1在调节禾谷镰刀菌的形态发生，DNA损伤修复，DON产生和毒力中起着重要作用。