N-starvation stress induced FUM gene expression and fumonisin production is mediated via the HOG-type MAPK pathway in Fusarium proliferatum

During cultivation of a wild type strain of Fusarium proliferatum on ammonium dihydrogen phosphate containing defined medium, expression levels of FUM1 and FUM8, members of the fumonisin biosynthesis gene cluster significantly increased when ammonium ion concentration of the culture medium decreased below 10 mM, indicating that N-depletion triggers the fumonisin biosynthesis genes. Deletion of Fphog1, a HOG-type MAP kinase gene resulted in further increases in FUM1 and FUM8 expression under nitrogen starvation (absence of any N-source) conditions. Fumonisin B1 (FB1) production paralleled with increased FUM gene expression: significant amounts of FB1 were measured in culture filtrates of the ΔFphog1 deleted mutant after five days culturing, whereas only traces of FB1 could be detected in filtrates of the wild type and the restored strain (R1) complemented with the wild-type Fphog1–24 gene. N-starvation strongly retarded the growth of the ΔFphog1 mutant in comparison to wild type. The up-regulation of fumonisin biosynthesis genes in the ΔFphog1 mutant could be explained by the increased sensitivity of these strains to N-starvation stress that appears in the absence of an intact HOG-type MAPK pathway.