文献类型： 外文期刊

作者： Xu, Di ¹ ; Zhao, Xiaoqiang ¹ ; Xu, Can ² ; Zhang, Chongbo ¹ ; Huang, Jiafeng ¹ ;

作者机构： 1.Shihezi Univ, Coll Agr, Key Lab Oasis Agr Pest Management & Plant Protect, Shihezi 832000, Peoples R China

2.Shihezi Univ, Xinjiang Acad Agr & Reclamat Sci, Shihezi 832000, Peoples R China

关键词： Verticillium dahliae; sarcosine oxidase; fungal pathogenicity; effectors expression; suppressing immunity

期刊名称：JOURNAL OF FUNGI （ 影响因子：4.0； 五年影响因子：4.5 ）

ISSN：

年卷期： 2025 年 11 卷 8 期

页码：

收录情况： SCI

摘要： The soil-borne fungal pathogen Verticillium dahliae causes devastating vascular wilt disease in numerous crops, including cotton. In this study, we reveal that VdSOX1, a highly conserved sarcosine oxidase gene, is significantly upregulated during host infection and plays a multifaceted role in fungal physiology and pathogenicity. Functional deletion of VdSOX1 leads to increased fungal virulence, accompanied by enhanced microsclerotia formation, elevated carbon source utilization, and pronounced upregulation of effector genes, including over 50 predicted secreted proteins genes. Moreover, the VdSOX1 knockout strains suppress the expression of key defense-related transcription factors in cotton, such as WRKY, MYB, AP2/ERF, and GRAS families, thereby impairing host immune responses. Transcriptomic analyses confirm that VdSOX1 orchestrates a broad metabolic reprogramming that links nutrient acquisition to immune evasion. Our findings identify VdSOX1 as a central regulator that promotes V. dahliae virulence by upregulating effector gene expression and suppressing host immune responses, offering novel insights into the molecular basis of host-pathogen interactions and highlighting potential targets for disease management.