Functional Analysis of Two Laccase Genes in Magnaporthe grisea

Laccase is found to be involved in pathogenicity of Cryphonectria parasitica and Cryptococcus neoformans. In this report we demonstrate that laccase is not necessary for pathogenicity in Magnaporthe grisea, which might be due to functional redundancy in some or all of the laccase genes. The major laccase activity in M. grisea is not encoded by either of the MGG_00551.5 and MGG_02876.5 genes, because targeted deletion of each gene shows only a slight decrease in laccase activity compared to wild-type strains. The MGG_00551.5 and MGG_02876.5 mutants share the same growth rate, conidiation and pathogenicity as wild-type strains. Taken together, our findings provide evidence that these genes are not essential for the differentiation and development of M. grisea.