Phytophthora sojae can cause soybean phytophthora blight, and greatly reduce soybean production. It is helpful to understand the pathogenic mechanism of P. sojae to prevent soybean phytophthora blight and ensures food security. Glycosyl hydrolases (GHs) disintegrate plant cell walls for nutrition and invasion, and they may act as an important virulence factor during P. sojae infection. To reveal the role of GHs in the main stages of P. sojae life cycle, we measured the expression level of genes, which encoded GHs, and constructed P. sojae transformants for biological function verification by the gene editing technology CRISPR-Cas9. In this study, four genes, encoded special GH proteins, with conserved glycine-rich were identified in the P. sojae genome, and their sequences were similar to those of the TOS1 family genes. One of them, the xp_009520987.1, was named PsGRGH, and was significantly upregulated during the germination of spores and in the early infection stages. The results revealed that PsGRGH was involved in the growth and mycelial morphology regulation in P. sojae, and was essential for its sporangium development and virulence. In addition, PsGRGH is localized on the cell membrane and plays an important role in tolerance toward Bacillus and abiotic stress.

大豆疫霉菌可引起大豆疫霉病，并大大降低大豆产量。了解大豆疫霉的发病机理，有助于预防大豆疫霉病，并确保食品安全。糖基水解酶（GHs）分解植物细胞壁以获取营养和入侵，它们可能是大豆疫霉感染期间的重要毒力因子。为了揭示GHs在大豆疫霉生命周期主要阶段中的作用，我们测量了编码GHs的基因的表达水平，并构建了大豆疫霉菌通过基因编辑技术CRISPR-Cas9进行生物学功能验证的转化子。在这项研究中，在大豆疫霉菌基因组中鉴定了四个编码特殊GH蛋白，富含甘氨酸的基因，它们的序列与TOS1家族基因的序列相似。其中之一，xp_009520987.1，被称为PsGRGH，在孢子萌发期间和感染早期均明显上调。结果表明，PsGRGH参与了大豆假单胞菌的生长和菌丝体形态调控，并且对于其孢子囊的发育和毒力至关重要。此外，PsGRGH位于细胞膜上，在耐受芽孢杆菌和非生物胁迫。