Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38514801›Full record

ArticleCommunications biology2024

A single laccase acts as a key component of environmental sensing in a broad host range fungal pathogen.

Nathaniel M Westrick, Eddie G Dominguez, Madeline Bondy, Christina M Hull, Damon L Smith, Mehdi Kabbage

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Communications biology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
2.6field-weighted citation impact, top 12% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed, 8 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Review
  2. Article
  3. Transcriptome Analysis of PostharvestFoods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026
    Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Nathaniel M WestrickValley Laboratory, Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, Windsor, CT, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-0282-675X
Eddie G DominguezDepartment of Biomolecular Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI, USA.
Madeline BondyDepartment of Plant Pathology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
Christina M HullDepartment of Biomolecular Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI, USA.
Damon L SmithDepartment of Plant Pathology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-3436-3718
Mehdi KabbageDepartment of Plant Pathology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA. kabbage@wisc.edu.ORCID 0000-0001-6381-9433
University of Wisconsin–Madison · USConnecticut Agricultural Experiment Station · US

Funding

United States Department of Agriculture | Agricultural Research Service (USDA Agricultural Research Service) 58-3060-8-023
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Secreted laccases are important enzymes on a broad ecological scale for their role in mediating plant-microbe interactions, but within ascomycete fungi these enzymes have been primarily associated with melanin biosynthesis. In this study, a putatively secreted laccase, Sslac2, was characterized from the broad-host-range plant pathogen Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, which is largely unpigmented and is not dependent on melanogenesis for plant infection. Gene knockouts of Sslac2 demonstrate wide ranging developmental phenotypes and are functionally non-pathogenic. These mutants also displayed indiscriminate growth behaviors and enhanced biomass formation, seemingly as a result of their inability to respond to canonical environmental growth cues, a phenomenon further confirmed through chemical stress, physiological, and transcriptomic analyses. Transmission and scanning electron microscopy demonstrate apparent differences in extracellular matrix structure between WT and mutant strains that likely explain the inability of the mutants to respond to their environment. Targeting Sslac2 using host-induced gene silencing significantly improved resistance to S. sclerotiorum, suggesting that fungal laccases could be a valuable target of disease control. Collectively, we identified a laccase critical to the development and virulence of the broad-host-range pathogen S. sclerotiorum and propose a potentially novel role for fungal laccases in modulating environmental sensing.

Indexed as

Host SpecificityLaccasePlantsVirulenceLaccase

Identifiers

PMID38514801
PMCPMC10957995
OpenAlexW4393056201

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.