Chitin Deacetylase, a Novel Target for the Design of Agricultural Fungicides

Martínez-Cruz, Jesús M.; Polonio, Álvaro; Zanni, Riccardo; Romero, Diego; Gálvez, Jorge; Fernández-Ortuño, Dolores; Pérez-García, Alejandro

doi:10.3390/jof7121009

Open AccessArticle

Chitin Deacetylase, a Novel Target for the Design of Agricultural Fungicides

by

Jesús M. Martínez-Cruz

^1,2

,

Álvaro Polonio

^1,2,

Riccardo Zanni

³

,

Diego Romero

^1,2

,

Jorge Gálvez

³

,

Dolores Fernández-Ortuño

^1,2,*

and

Alejandro Pérez-García

^1,2

¹

Departamento de Microbiología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Málaga, 29071 Málaga, Spain

²

Instituto de Hortofruticultura Subtropical y Mediterránea “La Mayora”, Universidad de Málaga, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (IHSM-UMA-CSIC), 29010 Málaga, Spain

³

Molecular Topology and Drug Design Unit, Department of Physical Chemistry, University of Valencia, 46010 Valencia, Spain

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

J. Fungi 2021, 7(12), 1009; https://doi.org/10.3390/jof7121009

Submission received: 29 October 2021 / Revised: 23 November 2021 / Accepted: 24 November 2021 / Published: 25 November 2021

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Control of Fungal Diseases in Crops)

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Abstract

Fungicide resistance is a serious problem for agriculture. This is particularly apparent in the case of powdery mildew fungi. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop new agrochemicals. Chitin is a well-known elicitor of plant immunity, and fungal pathogens have evolved strategies to overcome its detection. Among these strategies, chitin deacetylase (CDA) is responsible for modifying immunogenic chitooligomers and hydrolysing the acetamido group in the N-acetylglucosamine units to avoid recognition. In this work, we tested the hypothesis that CDA can be an appropriate target for antifungals using the cucurbit powdery mildew pathogen Podosphaera xanthii. According to our hypothesis, RNAi silencing of PxCDA resulted in a dramatic reduction in fungal growth that was linked to a rapid elicitation of chitin-triggered immunity. Similar results were obtained with treatments with carboxylic acids such as EDTA, a well-known CDA inhibitor. The disease-suppression activity of EDTA was not associated with its chelating activity since other chelating agents did not suppress disease. The binding of EDTA to CDA was confirmed by molecular docking studies. Furthermore, EDTA also suppressed green and grey mould-causing pathogens applied to oranges and strawberries, respectively. Our results conclusively show that CDA is a promising target for control of phytopathogenic fungi and that EDTA could be a starting point for fungicide design.

Keywords: chitin; chitin deacetylase; chitin-triggered immunity; EDTA; Podosphaera xanthii; powdery mildews; RNAi silencing

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MDPI and ACS Style

Martínez-Cruz, J.M.; Polonio, Á.; Zanni, R.; Romero, D.; Gálvez, J.; Fernández-Ortuño, D.; Pérez-García, A. Chitin Deacetylase, a Novel Target for the Design of Agricultural Fungicides. J. Fungi 2021, 7, 1009. https://doi.org/10.3390/jof7121009

AMA Style

Martínez-Cruz JM, Polonio Á, Zanni R, Romero D, Gálvez J, Fernández-Ortuño D, Pérez-García A. Chitin Deacetylase, a Novel Target for the Design of Agricultural Fungicides. Journal of Fungi. 2021; 7(12):1009. https://doi.org/10.3390/jof7121009

Chicago/Turabian Style

Martínez-Cruz, Jesús M., Álvaro Polonio, Riccardo Zanni, Diego Romero, Jorge Gálvez, Dolores Fernández-Ortuño, and Alejandro Pérez-García. 2021. "Chitin Deacetylase, a Novel Target for the Design of Agricultural Fungicides" Journal of Fungi 7, no. 12: 1009. https://doi.org/10.3390/jof7121009

APA Style

Martínez-Cruz, J. M., Polonio, Á., Zanni, R., Romero, D., Gálvez, J., Fernández-Ortuño, D., & Pérez-García, A. (2021). Chitin Deacetylase, a Novel Target for the Design of Agricultural Fungicides. Journal of Fungi, 7(12), 1009. https://doi.org/10.3390/jof7121009

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Chitin Deacetylase, a Novel Target for the Design of Agricultural Fungicides

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