Introduction

The production of high quality and safe food represents a main priority for the agri-food sector in the effort to sustain the exponentially growing human population. Nonetheless, there are major challenges that require the discovery of new, alternative, and improved plant protection products (PPPs). Focusing on fungal plant pathogens, the dissection of mechanisms that are essential for their survival provides insights that could be exploited towards the achievement of the aforementioned aim. In this context, the germination of fungal spores, which are essential structures for their dispersal, survival, and pathogenesis, represents a target of high potential for PPPs. To the best of our knowledge, no PPPs that target the germination of fungal spores currently exist.

Objectives

Within this context, we have mined for changes in the metabolite profiles of the model fungus Aspergillus nidulans FGSC A4 conidiospores during germination, in an effort to discover key metabolites and reactions that could potentially become targets of PPPs.

Methods

Untargeted GC/EI-TOF/MS metabolomics and multivariate analyses were employed to monitor time-resolved changes in the metabolomes of germinating A. nidulans conidiospores.

Results

Analyses revealed that trehalose hydrolysis plays a pivotal role in conidiospore germination and highlighted the osmoregulating role of the sugar alcohols, glycerol, and mannitol.

Conclusion

The ineffectiveness to introduce active ingredients that exhibit new mode(s)-of-action as fungicides, dictates the urge for the discovery of PPPs, which could be exploited to combat major plant protection issues. Based on the crucial role of trehalose hydrolysis in conidiospore dormancy breakage, and the subsequent involvement of glycerol in their germination, it is plausible to suggest their biosynthesis pathways as potential novel targets for the next-generation antifungal PPPs. Our study confirmed the applicability of untargeted metabolomics as a hypothesis-generation tool in PPPs’ research and discovery.

Graphic abstract

中文翻译：

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非靶向代谢组学作为植物保护产品发现中的假设生成工具：突出了真菌分生孢子的海藻糖和甘油代谢潜力，将其作为新的靶标。

介绍

高质量和安全食品的生产是农业食品部门努力维持人口指数增长的主要优先事项。但是，仍然存在重大挑战，需要发现新的，替代的和改进的植物保护产品（PPP）。对真菌植物病原体的关注，对它们生存必不可少的机制的剖析提供了可用于实现上述目标的见识。在这种情况下，真菌孢子的萌发是PPPs高潜力的目标，而真菌孢子的萌发是其散布，存活和发病机理的基本结构。据我们所知，目前没有针对真菌孢子萌发的PPP。

目标

在此背景下，我们已经挖掘了发芽过程中模型真菌构巢曲霉FGSC A4分生孢子的代谢物谱的变化，以发现可能成为PPP目标的关键代谢物和反应。

方法

采用非靶向GC / EI-TOF / MS代谢组学和多变量分析来监测构巢构巢曲霉孢子孢子代谢组中时间分辨的变化。

结果

分析表明，海藻糖水解在分生孢子萌发中起关键作用，并突出了糖醇，甘油和甘露醇的渗透调节作用。

结论

引入表现出新的作用方式的活性成分作为杀菌剂的效率低下，这表明人们迫切需要发现PPPs，可以将其用于解决重大的植物保护问题。基于海藻糖水解在分生孢子休眠破裂中的关键作用，以及随后甘油参与其萌发的过程，有可能提出它们的生物合成途径是下一代抗真菌PPPs的潜在新靶标。我们的研究证实了非靶向代谢组学作为PPP研究和发现中的假设生成工具的适用性。

图形摘要