Septin GTPases are essential cytoskeletal regulators that organize membranes and scaffold protein complexes to control cytokinesis, polarity, and morphogenesis. How septins execute these functions remains poorly understood, and comprehensive, stage-resolved interaction maps are lacking. Here, we define a quantitative, time-resolved septin interactome in the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae using immunoprecipitation coupled to mass spectrometry. We map more than 350 interactors of septins Sep3, Sep4, Sep5 and Sep6, revealing a dynamic network required for appressorium-mediated plant infection. Beyond canonical roles in cytoskeletal organisation and polarity, septins associate with proteins linked to membrane remodelling, metabolism, and virulence, deployed during host invasion. Integration with ultra-high-throughput yeast two-hybrid analysis defines a high-confidence septin interactome and identifies previously uncharacterised factors, including Msi1, a BAR domain protein required for invasive growth. Together, these findings establish septins as dynamic organisers of infection-related processes and provide a framework for understanding how cytoskeletal scaffolds coordinate fungal pathogenesis.

Nature Microbiology - During filamentous growth in the human fungal pathogen Candida albicans, a reduction in ribosome concentration leads to a decrease in macromolecular crowding. Inhibition of...

Septins assemble into scaffolds that direct cell growth and morphology that are often localized to the plasma membrane. While septins preferentially bind convex membranes via amphipathic helices, thei...

Cells employ cytoskeletal polymers to move, divide, and pass information inside and outside of the cell. Previous work on eukaryotic cytoskeletal elements such as actin, microtubules, and intermediate...

Fungi exert physical force to enable them to invade diverse substrates including, in the case of pathogenic species, living cells. Ryder, Sprakel and Talbot provide an overview of the mechanobiology o...

Plant pathogens manipulate the cellular environment of the host to facilitate infection and colonization, often leading to plant diseases. To accomplish this, many specialized pathogens secrete virule...