A TAL effector-like protein of an endofungal bacterium increases the stress tolerance and alters the transcriptome of the host

Abstract

Symbioses of bacteria with fungi have only recently been described and are poorly understood. In the symbiosis ofMycetohabitans(formerlyBurkholderia)rhizoxinicawith the fungusRhizopus microsporus, bacterial type III (T3) secretion is known to be essential. Proteins resembling T3-secreted transcription activator-like (TAL) effectors of plant pathogenic bacteria are encoded in the three sequencedMycetohabitansspp. genomes. TAL effectors nuclear-localize in plants, where they bind and activate genes important in disease. The Burkholderia TAL-like (Btl) proteins bind DNA but lack the N- and C-terminal regions, in which TAL effectors harbor their T3 and nuclear localization signals, and activation domain. We characterized a Btl protein, Btl19-13, and found that, despite the structural differences, it can be T3-secreted and can nuclear-localize. Abtl19-13gene knockout did not prevent the bacterium from infecting the fungus, but the fungus became less tolerant to cell membrane stress. Btl19-13 did not alter transcription in a plant-based reporter assay, but 15R. microsporusgenes were differentially expressed in comparisons both of the fungus infected with the wild-type bacterium vs. the mutant and with the mutant vs. a complemented strain. Southern blotting revealedbtlgenes in 14 diverseMycetohabitansisolates. However, banding patterns and available sequences suggest variation, and thebtl19-13phenotype could not be rescued by abtlgene from a different strain. Our findings support the conclusion that Btl proteins are effectors that act on host DNA and play important but varied or possibly host genotype-specific roles in theM. rhizoxinica–R. microsporussymbiosis.