Phthalate esters (PAEs) are prevalent environmental contaminants, with their biodegradation efficiently driven by microorganisms through ester bond hydrolysis. This study investigates the mechanism of Poc14, a novel family IV esterase, using x‐ray crystallography, bioinformatics, biochemistry and site‐directed mutagenesis. Phylogenetic analysis classifies Poc14 as a family IV esterase with conserved catalytic motifs crucial fo...

The assembly of bacterial communities in the rhizosphere is well‐documented and plays a crucial role in supporting plant performance. However, we have limited knowledge of how plant rhizosphere determines the assembly of protistan predators and whether the potential associations between protistan predators and bacterial communities shift due to rhizosphere selection. To address this, we examined bacterial and protistan taxa fr...

Summary SR protein‐specific kinases (SRPKs) uniquely with a spacer region are important splicing factors from yeast to human. However, little is known about their biological functions in filamentous fungi. Therefore, we characterized a SRPK called SRK1 in wheat scab fungus Fusarium graminearum . Our data showed that Srk1 is required for vegetative growth, sexual reproduction and plant infection, and plays critical roles in pre...

Summary The Pmk1 and Mps1 MAP kinases are essential for appressorium formation and plant infection in Magnaporthe oryzae . However, their exact roles during invasive growth are not clear because pmk1 and mps1 mutants are defective in penetration. To further characterize their functions after penetration, in this study we expressed the Pseudomonas syringae effector HopAI known to inactivate plant MAP kinases in M. oryzae . Cons...

Summary Variation in the symbiotic function of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AM fungi) has been demonstrated among distinct biotic and abiotic interactions. However, there is little knowledge on how local temperature conditions influence the functional divergence of AM symbionts in alpine ecosystems. Here, we conduct a reciprocal inoculation experiment to explore the three‐way interactions among plants, AM fungal inoculum and...

Summary In eukaryotic cells, MADS ‐box genes are known to play major regulatory roles in various biological processes by combinatorial interactions with other transcription factors. In this study, we functionally characterized the FgMCM1 MADS ‐box gene in F usarium graminearum , the causal agent of wheat and barley head blight. Deletion of FgMCM1 resulted in the loss of perithecium production and phialide formation. The F gmcm...