A novel L-arabinose-responsive regulator found in the rice-blast fungus Pyricularia oryzae (Magnaporthe oryzae)

In this study we identified the L-arabinose-responsive regulator of Pyricularia oryzae that regulates L-arabinose release and catabolism. Previously we identified the Zn2Cys6 transcription factor (TF) AraR that has this role in the Trichocomaceae family (Eurotiales), but is absent in other fungi. Candidate Zn2Cys6 TF genes were selected according to their transcript profiles on L-arabinose. Deletion mutants of these genes were screened for their growth phenotype on L-arabinose. One mutant, named ?ara1, was further analyzed. Our analysis demonstrated that Ara1 from P. oryzae is the functional homolog of AraR from A. niger, while sequence analysis did not reveal significant homology between them. Overall design: Putative P. oryzae L-arabinose responsive regulators were selected by the comparison of RNAseq data of P. oryzae wild type strain grown for 2 hours on D-fructose and a time-course (2, 4 and 8 h) on L-arabinose.