Chloramphenicol inhibits eukaryotic Ser/Thr phosphatase and infection-specific cell differentiation in the rice blast fungus

Chloramphenicol (Cm) is a broad-spectrum classic antibiotic active against prokaryotic organisms. However, Cm has severe side effects in eukaryotes of which the cause remains unknown. The plant pathogenic fungus Magnaporthe oryzae, which causes rice blast, forms an appressorium to infect the host cell via single-cell differentiation. Chloramphenicol specifically inhibits appressorium formation, which indicates that Cm has a novel molecular target (or targets) in the rice blast fungus. Application of the T7 phage display method inferred that MoDullard, a Ser/Thr-protein phosphatase, may be a target of Cm. In animals Dullard functions in cell differentiation and protein synthesis, but in fungi its role is poorly understood. In vivo and in vitro analyses showed that MoDullard is required for appressorium formation, and that Cm can bind to and inhibit MoDullard function. Given that human phosphatase CTDSP1 complemented the MoDullard function during appressorium formation by M. oryzae, CTDSP1 may be a novel molecular target of Cm in eukaryotes.