{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,14]],"date-time":"2026-10-14T23:50:40Z","timestamp":1792021840289,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,8]],"date-time":"2026-07-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1783468800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Microbiol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    Sugarcane is an important sugar crop, and smut disease caused by\n                    <jats:italic>Sporisorium scitamineum<\/jats:italic>\n                    poses a severe threat with limited control measures. This study is based on transcriptome sequencing data from two distinct pathogenic strains of\n                    <jats:italic>Sporisorium scitamineum<\/jats:italic>\n                    generated in our laboratory. Among the significantly differentially expressed genes, we identified a gene predicted to encode a monocarboxylate permease, which we designated\n                    <jats:italic>SsMP1<\/jats:italic>\n                    . To investigate its biological function,\n                    <jats:italic>SsMP1<\/jats:italic>\n                    knockout and complemented mutants were generated using PEG-mediated protoplast transformation. Our results showed that\n                    <jats:italic>SsMP1<\/jats:italic>\n                    had little to no effect on sporidial morphology, colony morphology, growth rate, or tolerance to abiotic stresses. In the knockout mutant,\n                    <jats:italic>SsMP1<\/jats:italic>\n                    expression was undetectable, whereas it was readily detected in both the wild-type and complemented strains, Moreover, the expression level in the complemented mutant was restored to that of the wild-type strain. Notably, sexual mating ability was almost completely abolished in the knockout mutant but was fully restored in the complemented mutant. Interestingly, supplementation with exogenous signaling molecules, including cAMP or tryptophol, largely rescued the mating defect of the knockout mutant. Consistently, the expression levels of\n                    <jats:italic>Uac1<\/jats:italic>\n                    , a gene involved in cAMP biosynthesis, and\n                    <jats:italic>Aro8<\/jats:italic>\n                    , a gene associated with tryptophol biosynthesis, were significantly lower in the knockout mutant than in the wild-type and complemented strains. In addition, the knockout mutant exhibited more than a 70% reduction in pathogenicity compared with the wild-type and complemented strains. Furthermore, citric acid transport and uptake were markedly impaired in the knockout mutant. Taken together, these findings suggest that\n                    <jats:italic>SsMP1<\/jats:italic>\n                    may indirectly regulate the expression of key genes involved in the cAMP and tryptophol biosynthetic pathways, thereby modulating signaling molecule production and subsequently affecting mating and pathogenicity. In addition,\n                    <jats:italic>SsMP1<\/jats:italic>\n                    appears to positively regulate citric acid uptake and transport in haploid sporidia. This study provides new molecular insights into the pathogenic mechanisms of\n                    <jats:italic>S. scitamineum<\/jats:italic>\n                    .\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fmicb.2026.1826158","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,8]],"date-time":"2026-07-08T05:57:02Z","timestamp":1783490222000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Monocarboxylate permease gene SsMP1 regulates Sporisorium scitamineum mating, pathogenicity and absorption and transport of citric acid"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Sisi","family":"Zhou","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Agriculture, South China Agricultural University","place":["Guangzhou, China"]},{"name":"Sugarcane Research Laboratory, South China Agricultural University","place":["Guangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yi","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Agriculture, South China Agricultural University","place":["Guangzhou, China"]},{"name":"Sugarcane Research Laboratory, South China Agricultural University","place":["Guangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jiali","family":"Zhou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Agriculture, South China Agricultural University","place":["Guangzhou, China"]},{"name":"Sugarcane Research Laboratory, South China Agricultural University","place":["Guangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiaohui","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Agriculture, South China Agricultural University","place":["Guangzhou, China"]},{"name":"Sugarcane Research Laboratory, South China Agricultural University","place":["Guangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wankuan","family":"Shen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Agriculture, South China Agricultural University","place":["Guangzhou, China"]},{"name":"Sugarcane Research Laboratory, South China Agricultural University","place":["Guangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1189","DOI":"10.1094\/pd-80-1189","article-title":"PCR amplification from a homolog of the be mating-type gene as a sensitive assay for the presence of Ustilago scitaminea DNA.","volume":"80","author":"Albert","year":"1996","journal-title":"Plant Dis"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1111","DOI":"10.1002\/pmic.201500245","article-title":"Proteomic analysis of a compatible interaction between sugarcane and Sporisorium scitamineum.","volume":"16","author":"Barnabas","year":"2016","journal-title":"Proteomics"},{"key":"B3","first-page":"2314","article-title":"A gene knockout method based on protoplast transformation with two PCR fragments in Sporisorium scitamineum.","volume":"39","author":"Cai","year":"2020","journal-title":"Mycosystema"},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"470","DOI":"10.3390\/jof8050470","article-title":"Squalene monooxygenase gene SsCI80130 regulates Sporisorium scitamineum mating\/filamentation and pathogenicity.","volume":"8","author":"Cai","year":"2022","journal-title":"J. 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