Regulation by light in Fusarium

The genus Fusarium stands out as research model for pathogenesis and secondary metabolism. Light stimulates the production of some Fusarium metabolites, such as the carotenoids, and in many species it influences the production of asexual spores and sexual fruiting bodies. As found in other fungi with well-known photoresponses, the Fusarium genomes contain several genes for photoreceptors, among them a set of White Collar (WC) proteins, a cryptochrome, a photolyase, a phytochrome and two presumably photoactive opsins. The mutation of the opsin genes produced no apparent phenotypic alterations, but the loss of the only WC-1 orthologous protein eliminated the photoinduced expression of the photolyase and opsin genes. In contrast to other carotenogenic species, lack of the WC photoreceptor did not impede the light-induced accumulation of carotenoids, but produced alterations in conidiation, animal pathogenicity and nitrogen-regulated secondary metabolism. The regulation and functional role of other Fusarium photoreceptors is currently under investigation.