Rice false smut caused by Villosiclava virens is one of the destructive diseases on panicles of rice. Sexual development of V. virens, controlled by mating-type locus, plays an important role in the prevalence of rice false smut and genetic diversity of the pathogen. However, how the mating-type genes mediate sexual development of the V. virens remains largely unknown. In this study, we characterized the two mating-type genes, MAT1-1-1 and MAT1-1-2, in V. virens. MAT1-1-1 knockout mutant showed defects in hyphal growth, conidia morphogenesis, sexual development, and increase in the tolerance to salt and osmotic stress. Targeted deletion of MAT1-1-2 not only impaired the sclerotia formation and pathogenicity of V. virens, but also reduced the production of conidia. The MAT1-1-2 mutant showed increases in tolerance to salt and hydrogen peroxide stress, but decreases in tolerance to osmotic stress. Yeast two-hybrid assay showed that MAT1-1-1 interacted with MAT1-1-2, indicating that those proteins might form a complex to regulate sexual development. In addition, MAT1-1-1 localized in the nucleus, and MAT1-1-2 localized in the cytoplasm. Collectively, our results demonstrate that MAT1-1-1 and MAT1-1-2 play important roles in the conidiation, stress response, sexual development, and pathogenicity of V. virens, thus providing new insights into the function of mating-type gene.

由Villosiclava virens引起的稻曲病是稻穗上的破坏性疾病之一。交配型基因座控制的V. virens的有性发育在稻曲病的流行和病原体的遗传多样性中起着重要作用。但是，交配型基因如何介导V. virens的性发育仍是未知的。在这项研究中，我们的特点两个交配型基因，MAT1 - 1 - 1和MAT1 - 1 - 2，在五霉。MAT1 - 1 - 1敲除突变体显示菌丝生长，分生孢子形态发生，性发育以及对盐和渗透胁迫的耐受性增加的缺陷。的靶向缺失MAT1 - 1 - 2不仅损害的菌核形成和致病性V.霉，而且还降低了生产分生孢子。所述MAT1 - 1 - 2该突变体显示出对盐和过氧化氢胁迫的耐受性增加，但是对渗透胁迫的耐受性降低。酵母两杂交试验表明MAT1-1-1与MAT1-1-2相互作用，表明这些蛋白质可能形成复合物来调节性发育。此外，MAT1-1-1定位在细胞核中，MAT1-1-2定位在细胞质中。总的来说，我们的结果表明，MAT1 - 1 - 1和MAT1 - 1 - 2在分生孢子，应激反应，性发育和致病性中发挥重要作用V.病菌，从而提供新的见解交配型基因的功能。