The soil-borne ascomycete Fusarium oxysporum causes vascular wilt in more than 100 different crop species and can also infect immunocompromised mammals. F. oxysporum with a mutation in VelB, which encodes a component of the velvet complex, had been shown to exhibit attenuated virulence in mice, leading López-Berges et al. to characterize the role of the velvet complex more thoroughly. The velvet complex coordinates fungal development and secondary metabolite biosynthesis by modifying chromatin accessibility and gene expression. Accordingly, the authors found that the velvet complex components VeA, VelB and VelC have roles in F. oxysporum conidiation and that the VeA and LaeA components are required for virulence in tomato plants and immunocompromised mice because these proteins control the biosynthesis of beauvericin, a mycotoxin.
ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER
López-Berges, M. S. et al. The velvet complex governs mycotoxin production and virulence of Fusarium oxysporum on plant and mammalian hosts. Mol. Microbiol. 19 Nov 2012 (doi:10.1111/mmi.12082)
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Jermy, A. Fungal fist in a velvet glove. Nat Rev Microbiol 11, 5 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro2946
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro2946