Lytic Polysaccharide Monooxygenases as Chitin-Specific Virulence Factors in Crayfish Plague.

The oomycete pathogen Aphanomyces astaci, also known as "crayfish plague", is an obligate fungal-like parasite of freshwater crustaceans and is considered responsible for the ongoing decline of native European crayfish populations. A. astaci is thought to secrete a wide array of effectors and enzymes that facilitate infection, however their molecular mechanisms have been poorly characterized. Here, we report the identification of AA15 lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs) as a new group of secreted virulence factors in A. astaci. We show that this enzyme family has greatly expanded in A. astaci compared to all other oomycetes, and that it may facilitate infection through oxidative degradation of crystalline chitin, the most abundant polysaccharide found in the crustacean exoskeleton. These findings reveal new roles for LPMOs in animal-pathogen interactions, and could help inform future strategies for the protection of farmed and endangered species.

Editing the genome of Aphanomyces invadans using CRISPR/Cas9.

BACKGROUND: The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9) system is increasingly being used for genome editing experiments. It is a system to add, delete and/or replace parts of a gene in situ in a time- and cost-efficient manner. The genome of many organisms has been edited using this system. We tested the CRISPR/Cas9 system in Aphanomyces invadans, an oomycete, which is the causative agent of epizootic ulcerative syndrome (EUS) in many fish species. Extracellular proteases produced by this oomycete are believed to play a role in EUS virulence. METHODS: We designed three single guide-RNAs (gRNA) to target A. invadans serine protease gene. These gRNAs were individually combined with the Cas9 to form ribo-nucleo-protein (RNP) complex. A. invadans protoplasts were then transfected with RNP complexes. After the transfection, the target gene was amplified and subjected to sequencing. Zoospores of A. invadans were also transfected with the RNP complex. Three groups of dwarf gourami (Trichogaster lalius) were then experimentally inoculated with (i) non-treated A. invadans zoospores; (ii) RNP-treated A. invadans zoospores; and (iii) autoclaved pond water as negative control, to investigate the effect of edited serine protease gene on the virulence of A. invadans in vivo. RESULTS: Fluorescence microscopy showed sub-cellular localization of RNP complex in A. invadans protoplasts and zoospores. Sequencing results from the protoplast DNA revealed a point mutation in the target gene. A matching mutation was also detected in zoospores after similar treatment with the same RNP complex. In vivo results showed that the CRISPR/Cas9-treated A. invadans zoospores did not produce EUS clinical signs in the fish. These results were then confirmed by histopathological staining of the muscle sections using Gomori's methenamine silver nitrate and hematoxylin and eosin stains. CONCLUSIONS: Results obtained in this study indicate that the RNP complex caused effective mutation in the target gene. This hindered the production of serine protease, which ultimately impeded the manifestation of EUS in the fish. Our methods thus establish a promising approach for functional genomics studies in A. invadans and provide novel avenues to develop effective strategies to control this pathogen.

Identification of two GH18 chitinase family genes and their use as targets for detection of the crayfish-plague oomycete Aphanomyces astaci.

BACKGROUND: The oomycete Aphanomyces astaci is regarded as the causative agent of crayfish plague and represents an evident hazard for European crayfish species. Native crayfish populations infected with this pathogen suffer up to 100% mortality. The existence of multiple transmission paths necessitates the development of a reliable, robust and efficient test to detect the pathogen. Currently, A. astaci is diagnosed by a PCR-based assay that suffers from cross-reactivity to other species. We developed an alternative closed-tube assay for A. astaci, which achieves robustness through simultaneous amplification of multiple functionally constrained genes. RESULTS: Two novel constitutively expressed members of the glycosyl hydrolase (GH18) gene family of chitinases were isolated from the A. astaci strain Gb04. The primary amino acid sequence of these chitinase genes, termed CHI2 and CHI3, is composed of an N-terminal signal peptide directing the post-translational transport of the protein into the extracellular space, the catalytic GH18 domain, a proline-, serine-, and threonine-rich domain and a C-terminal cysteine-rich putative chitin-binding site. The A. astaci mycelium grown in a pepton-glucose medium showed significant temporal changes in steady-state CHI2 and CHI3 mRNA amounts indicating functional constraint. Their different temporal occurrence with maxima at 48 and 24 hours of incubation for CHI2 and CHI3, respectively, is in accordance with the multifunctionality of GH18 family members. To identify A. astaci-specific primer target sites in these novel genes, we determined the partial sequence homologs in the related oomycetes A. frigidophilus, A. invadans, A. helicoides, A. laevis, A. repetans, Achlya racemosa, Leptolegnia caudata, and Saprolegnia parasitica, as well as in the relevant fungi Fusarium solani and Trichosporon cutaneum. An A. astaci-specific primer pair targeting the novel genes CHI2 and CHI3 as well as CHI1 - a third GH18 family member - was multiplexed with primers targeting the 5.8S rRNA used as an endogenous control. A species was typed unambiguously as A. astaci if two peaks were concomitantly detected by melting curve analysis (MCA). For sensitive detection of the pathogen, but also for quantification of agent levels in susceptible crayfish and carrier crayfish, a TaqMan-probe based real-time PCR (qPCR) assay was developed. It targets the same chitinase genes and allows quantification down to 25 target sequences. CONCLUSION: The simultaneous qualitative detection of multiple sequences by qPCR/MCA represents a promising approach to detect species with elevated levels of genetic variation and/or limited available sequence information. The homogenous closed-tube format, reduced detection time, higher specificity, and the considerably reduced chance of false negative detection achieved by targeting multiple genes (CHI1, CHI2, CHI3, and the endogenous control) at least two of which are subject to high functional constraint, are the major advantages of this multiplex assay compared to other diagnostic methods. Sensitive quantification achieved with TaqMan qPCR facilitates to monitor infection status and pathogen distribution in different tissues and can help prevent disease transmission.

No rosetta stone for a sense-antisense origin of aminoacyl tRNA synthetase classes.

Aminoacyl tRNA synthetases (aaRS) are crucial enzymes that join amino acids to their cognate tRNAs, thereby implementing the genetic code. These enzymes fall into two unrelated structural classes whose evolution has not been explained. The leading hypothesis, proposed by Rodin and Ohno, is that the two classes originated as a pair of sense-antisense genes encoded on opposite strands of a single DNA molecule. This unusual idea obtained its main support from reports of a "Rosetta stone": a locus where genes for heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) and an Nicotinamide adenine dinulecotide-specific glutamate dehydrogenase (NAD-GDH), which are structurally homologous to the two classes of aaRS, overlap extensively on complementary DNA strands. This remarkable locus was first characterized in the oomycete Achlya klebsiana and has since been reported in many other species. Here we present evidence that the open reading frames on the antisense strand of HSP70 genes are spurious, and we identify a more probable candidate for the gene encoding the oomycete NAD-GDH enzyme. These results cast extensive doubt on the Rosetta Stone argument.

Physiological and genetic characterisation of some new Aphanomyces strains isolated from freshwater crayfish.

Five Aphanomyces strains were isolated during suspected outbreaks of crayfish disease in Spain and Italy. Genetic and physiological evidence show that the strains isolated from the freshwater crayfish Procambarus clarkii and Pacifastacus leniusculus, do not fit into any previously identified group of Aphanomyces astaci and are not capable of killing crayfish following standardised experimental infection. RAPD-PCR and ITS sequencing analysis show a high degree of similarity between the new isolates, while they are clearly different from the A. astaci reference strains. They do, however, possess some properties, which are commonly associated with parasitic species such as repeated zoospore emergence and the lack of sexual reproduction. The five isolates share some physiological properties i.e. a high growth rate, and germination in response to nutrients and, in contrast to A. astaci, they do not express chitinase constitutively during growth or sporulation. Until their taxonomic status is fully elucidated we suggest that the new isolates be given the tentative species name Aphanomyces repetans.