Cand2 inhibits CRL-mediated ubiquitination and suppresses autophagy to facilitate pathogenicity of phytopathogenic fungi.

The ubiquitin-proteasome system and the autophagy system are the two primary mechanisms used by eukaryotes to maintain protein homeostasis, and both are closely related to the pathogenicity of the rice blast fungus. In this research, we identified MoCand2 as an inhibitor of ubiquitination in Magnaporthe oryzae. Through this role, MoCand2 participates in the regulation of autophagy and pathogenicity. Specifically, we found that deletion of MoCand2 increased the ubiquitination level in M. oryzae, whereas overexpression of MoCand2 inhibited the accumulation of ubiquitinated proteins. Interaction analyses showed that MoCand2 is a subunit of Cullin-RING ligases (CRLs). It suppresses ubiquitination by blocking the assembly of CRLs and downregulating the expression of key CRL subunits. Further research indicated that MoCand2 regulates autophagy through ubiquitination. MoCand2 knockout led to over-ubiquitination and over-degradation of MoTor, and we confirmed that MoTor content was negatively correlated with autophagy level. In addition, MoCand2 knockout accelerated the K63 ubiquitination of MoAtg6 and strengthened the assembly and activity of the phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase class 3 complex, thus enhancing autophagy. Abnormal ubiquitination and autophagy in ΔMocand2 resulted in defects in growth, conidiation, stress resistance, and pathogenicity. Finally, sequence alignment and functional analyses in other phytopathogenic fungi confirmed the high conservation of fungal Cand2s. Our research thus reveals a novel mechanism by which ubiquitination regulates autophagy and pathogenicity in phytopathogenic fungi.