Oligosaccharides from Botrytis cinerea and Elicitation of Grapevine Defense

An extract from Botrytis cinerea culture filtrate was sprayed on grapevine plants (Vitis vinifera) to investigate its potential to stimulate defense reactions. The extract triggered the induction of genes encoding pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins as chitinases (CHIT), polygalacturonase-inhibiting protein (PGIP), serine proteinase inhibitor (PIN), and enzymes involved in phytoalexin synthesis as phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) and stilbene synthase (STS). Correlated to the up-regulation of these latter genes, stilbene content increased in treated leaves. Consequently, treatment of grapevine leaves with the fungal extract triggered protection toward Plasmopara viticola and Erysiphe necator, the causal agents of grapevine downy and powdery mildews, respectively. Disease severity was significantly reduced in elicited plants, approximately 61 % for downy mildew and 83 % for powdery mildew. This approach could represent a valuable strategy to protect grapevine from diseases as an alternative or complementary method to the use of pesticides

Drosophila melanogaster: A Valuable Genetic Model Organism to Elucidate the Biology of Retinitis Pigmentosa.

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a complex inherited disease. It is associated with mutations in a wide variety of genes with many different functions. These mutations impact the integrity of rod photoreceptors and ultimately result in the progressive degeneration of rods and cone photoreceptors in the retina, leading to complete blindness. A hallmark of this disease is the variable degree to which symptoms are manifest in patients. This is indicative of the influence of the environment, and/or of the distinct genetic makeup of the individual.The fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, has effectively proven to be a great model system to better understand interconnected genetic networks. Unraveling genetic interactions and thereby different cellular processes is relatively easy because more than a century of research on flies has enabled the creation of sophisticated genetic tools to perturb gene function. A remarkable conservation of disease genes across evolution and the similarity of the general organization of the fly and vertebrate photoreceptor cell had prompted research on fly retinal degeneration. To date six fly models for RP, including RP4, RP11, RP12, RP14, RP25, and RP26, have been established, and have provided useful information on RP disease biology. In this chapter, an outline of approaches and experimental specifications are described to enable utilizing or developing new fly models of RP