0000000000400698

AUTHOR

Begonya Vicedo

Preventive and post-infection control ofBotrytis cinereain tomato plants by hexanoic acid

The antifungal activity of hexanoic acid on the phytopathogen Botrytis cinerea was studied. This chemical inhibited both spore germination and mycelial growth in vitro in a concentration- and pH-dependent manner, and stopped spore germination at a very early stage, preventing germ-tube development. The minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) for in vitro spore germination was 16 m m . Hexanoic acid also inhibited in vitro mycelial growth of germinated spores at an MFC of 12 m m . Studies performed to characterize the mechanisms underlying the antimicrobial effect of hexanoic acid showed that it alters fungal membrane permeability. In addition, hexanoic acid treatment increased the levels of …

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Priming for JA-dependent defenses using hexanoic acid is an effective mechanism to protect Arabidopsis against B. cinerea

Abstract Soil drench treatments with hexanoic acid can effectively protect Arabidopsis plants against Botrytis cinerea through a mechanism based on a stronger and faster accumulation of JA-dependent defenses. Plants impaired in ethylene, salicylic acid, abscisic acid or glutathion pathways showed intact protection by hexanoic acid upon B. cinerea infection. Accordingly, no significant changes in the SA marker gene PR-1 in either the SA or ABA hormone balance were observed in the infected and treated plants. In contrast, the JA signaling pathway showed dramatic changes after hexanoic acid treatment, mainly when the pathogen was present. The impaired JA mutants, jin1-2 and jar1 , were unable …

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Functional analysis of endo-1,4-β-glucanases in response to Botrytis cinerea and Pseudomonas syringae reveals their involvement in plant-pathogen interactions.

Plant cell wall modification is a critical component in stress responses. Endo-1,4-β-glucanases (EGs) take part in cell wall editing processes, e.g. elongation, ripening and abscission. Here we studied the infection response of Solanum lycopersicum and Arabidopsis thaliana with impaired EGs. Transgenic TomCel1 and TomCel2 tomato antisense plants challenged with Pseudomonas syringae showed higher susceptibility, callose priming and increased jasmonic acid pathway marker gene expression. These two EGs could be resistance factors and may act as negative regulators of callose deposition, probably by interfering with the defence-signalling network. A study of a set of Arabidopsis EG T-DNA insert…

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Hexanoic acid is a resistance inducer that protects tomato plants againstPseudomonas syringaeby priming the jasmonic acid and salicylic acid pathways

Summary Hexanoic acid-induced resistance (Hx-IR) is effective against several pathogens in tomato plants. Our study of the mechanisms implicated in Hx-IR against Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 suggests that hexanoic acid (Hx) treatment counteracts the negative effect of coronatine (COR) and jasmonyl-isoleucine (JA-Ile) on the salicylic acid (SA) pathway. In Hx-treated plants, an increase in the expression of jasmonic acid carboxyl methyltransferase (JMT) and the SA marker genes PR1 and PR5 indicates a boost in this signalling pathway at the expense of a decrease in JA-Ile. Moreover, Hx treatment potentiates 12-oxo-phytodienoic acid accumulation, which suggests that this molecule mig…

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Hexanoic acid protects tomato plants againstBotrytis cinereaby priming defence responses and reducing oxidative stress

Summary Treatment with the resistance priming inducer hexanoic acid (Hx) protects tomato plants from Botrytis cinerea by activating defence responses. To investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying hexanoic acid-induced resistance (Hx-IR), we compared the expression profiles of three different conditions: Botrytis-infected plants (Inf), Hx-treated plants (Hx) and Hx-treated + infected plants (Hx+Inf). The microarray analysis at 24 h post-inoculation showed that Hx and Hx+Inf plants exhibited the differential expression and priming of many Botrytis-induced genes. Interestingly, we found that the activation by Hx of other genes was not altered by the fungus at this time point. These genes…

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An untargeted global metabolomic analysis reveals the biochemical changes underlying basal resistance and priming in Solanum lycopersicum, and identifies 1-methyltryptophan as a metabolite involved in plant responses to Botrytis cinerea and Pseudomonas syringae.

n this study, we have used untargeted global metabolomic analysis to determine and compare the chemi-cal nature of the metabolites altered during the infection of tomato plants (cv. Ailsa Craig) with Botry-tis cinerea (Bot)orPseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 (Pst), pathogens that have different invasionmechanisms and lifestyles. We also obtained the metabolome of tomato plants primed using the naturalresistance inducer hexanoic acid and then infected with these pathogens. By contrasting the metabolomicprofiles of infected, primed, and primed + infected plants, we determined not only the processes or compo-nents related directly to plant defense responses, but also inferred the metabolic…

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Expression of miR159 Is Altered in Tomato Plants Undergoing Drought Stress.

In a scenario of global climate change, water scarcity is a major threat for agriculture, severely limiting crop yields. Therefore, alternatives are urgently needed for improving plant adaptation to drought stress. Among them, gene expression reprogramming by microRNAs (miRNAs) might offer a biotechnologically sound strategy. Drought-responsive miRNAs have been reported in many plant species, and some of them are known to participate in complex regulatory networks via their regulation of transcription factors involved in water stress signaling. We explored the role of miR159 in the response of Solanum lycopersicum Mill. plants to drought stress by analyzing the expression of sly-miR159 and …

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Absence of the endo-beta-1,4-glucanases Cel1 and Cel2 reduces susceptibility to Botrytis cinerea in tomato.

Cel1 and Cel2 are members of the tomato (Solanum lycopersicum Mill) endo-beta-1,4-glucanase (EGase) family that may play a role in fruit ripening and organ abscission. This work demonstrates that Cel1 protein is present in other vegetative tissues and accumulates during leaf development. We recently reported the downregulation of both the Cel1 mRNA and protein upon fungal infection, suggesting the involvement of EGases in plant-pathogen interactions. This hypothesis was confirmed by assessing the resistance to Botrytis cinerea infection of transgenic plants expressing both genes in an antisense orientation (Anti-Cel1, Anti-Cel2 and Anti-Cel1-Cel2). The Anti-Cel1-Cel2 plants showed enhanced …

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