SUMMARY
Alternaria species are mainly saprophytic fungi However, some species have acquired pathogenic capacities collectively causing disease over a broad host range This review summarizes the knowledge on pathogenic strategies employed by the fungus to plunder the host Furthermore, strategies employed by potential host plants in order to ward off an attack are discussed

Taxonomy:Alternaria spp kingdom Fungi, subkingdom Eumycotera, phylum Fungi Imperfecti (a non-phylogenetic or artificial phylum of fungi without known sexual stages whose members may or may not be related; taxonomy does not reflect relationships), form class Hypomycetes, Form order Moniliales, form family Dematiaceae, genus Alternaria Some species of Alternaria are the asexual anamorph of the ascomycete Pleospora while others are speculated to be anamorphs of Leptosphaeria

Host Range: Most Alternaria species are common saprophytes that derive energy as a result of cellulytic activity and are found in a variety of habitats as ubiquitous agents of decay Some species are plant pathogens that cause a range of economically important diseases like stem cancer, leaf blight or leaf spot on a large variety of crops Latent infections can occur and result in post-harvest diseases or damping-off in case of infected seed

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Alternaria spp.: from general saprophyte to specific parasite.

Host-selective toxins, a group of structurally complex and chemically diverse metabolites produced by plant pathogenic strains of certain fungal species, function as essential determinants of pathogenicity or virulence. Investigations into the molecular and biochemical responses to these disease determinants reveal responses typically associated with host defense and incompatibility induced by avirulence determinants. The characteristic responses that unify these disparate disease phenotypes are numerous, yet the evidence implicating a causal relationship of these responses, whether induced by host-selective toxins or avirulence factors, in determining the consequences of the host-pathogen interaction is equivocal. This review summarizes some examples of the action of host-selective toxins to illustrate the similarity in responses with those to avirulence determinants.

HOST-SELECTIVE TOXINS AND AVIRULENCE DETERMINANTS: What's in a Name?*

https://www.cell.com/trends/plant-science/pdf/S1360-1385(05)00228-1.pdf

Plant secondary metabolism glycosyltransferases: the emerging functional analysis.

Glycosyltransferases of small molecules transfer sugars to a wide range of acceptors, from hormones and secondary metabolites to biotic and abiotic chemicals and toxins in the environment. The enzymes are encoded by large multigene families and can be identified by a signature motif in their primary sequence, which classifies them as a subset of Family 1 glycosyltransferases. The transfer of a sugar onto a lipophilic acceptor changes its chemical properties, alters its bioactivity, and enables access to membrane transporter systems. In vitro studies have shown that a single gene product can glycosylate multiple substrates of diverse origins; multiple enzymes can also glycosylate the same substrate. These features suggest that in a cellular context, substrate availability is a determining factor in enzyme function, and redundancy depends on the extent of coordinate gene regulation. This review discusses the role of these glycosyltransferases in underpinning developmental and metabolic plasticity during adaptive responses.

Glycosyltransferases of lipophilic small molecules.

The destruxins: synthesis, biosynthesis, biotransformation, and biological activity.

To facilitate plant colonization, some pathogenic fungi produce phytotoxic metabolites that damage tissues; plants may be resistant to a particular pathogen if they produce an enzyme(s) that catalyzes detoxification of this metabolite(s). Alternaria blackspot is one of the most damaging and significant fungal diseases of brassica crops, with no source of resistance known within the Brassica species. Destruxin B is the major phytotoxin produced by the blackspot-causing fungus, Alternaria brassicae (Berkley) Saccardo. We have established that a blackspot-resistant species (Sinapis alba) metabolized 14C-labeled destruxin B to a less toxic product substantially faster than any of the susceptible species. The first metabolite, hydroxydestruxin B (14C-labeled), was further biotransformed to the β-d-glucosyl derivative at a slower rate. The structures of hydroxydestruxin B and β-d-glucosyl hydroxydestruxin B were deduced from their spectroscopic data [NMR, high resolution (HR)-MS, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR)] and confirmed by total chemical synthesis. Although these hydroxylation and glucosylation reactions occurred in both resistant (S. alba) and susceptible (Brassica napus, Brassica juncea, and Brassica rapa) species, hydroxylation was the rate limiting step in the susceptible species, whereas glucosylation was the rate limiting step in the resistant species. Remarkably, it was observed that the hydroxydestruxin B induced the biosynthesis of phytoalexins in blackspot-resistant species but not in susceptible species. This appears to be a unique example of phytotoxin detoxification and simultaneous phytoalexin elicitation by the detoxification product. Our studies suggest that S. alba can overcome the fungal invader through detoxification of destruxin B coupled with production of phytoalexins.

https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/98/2/747.full.pdf

Y. Zhou

Papers

In planta sequential hydroxylation and glycosylation of a fungal phytotoxin: Avoiding cell death and overcoming the fungal invader