2 research outputs found
Novel Disease Susceptibility Factors for Fungal Necrotrophic Pathogens in Arabidopsis
Host cells use an intricate signaling system to respond to invasions by pathogenic microorganisms.
Although several signaling components of disease resistance against necrotrophic
fungal pathogens have been identified, our understanding for how molecular components
and host processes contribute to plant disease susceptibility is rather sparse. Here, we identified
four transcription factors (TFs) from Arabidopsis that limit pathogen spread. Arabidopsis
mutants defective in any of these TFs displayed increased disease susceptibility to
Botrytis cinerea and Plectosphaerella cucumerina, and a general activation of non-immune
host processes that contribute to plant disease susceptibility. Transcriptome analyses revealed
that the mutants share a common transcriptional signature of 77 up-regulated genes.
We characterized several of the up-regulated genes that encode peptides with a secretion
signal, which we named PROVIR (for provirulence) factors. Forward and reverse genetic
analyses revealed that many of the PROVIRs are important for disease susceptibility of the
host to fungal necrotrophs. The TFs and PROVIRs identified in our work thus represent
novel genetic determinants for plant disease susceptibility to necrotrophic fungal pathogens.Funding: This work was supported by the Spanish MINECO (BFU2012 to PV), and Generalitat Valenciana (Prometeo2014/020 to PV). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Dobón Alonso, A.; Canet Perez, JV.; García-Andrade Serrano, J.; Angulo, C.; Neumetzler, L.; Persson, S.; Vera Vera, P. (2015). Novel Disease Susceptibility Factors for Fungal Necrotrophic Pathogens in Arabidopsis. PLoS Pathogens. 11(4):1-30. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1004800S13011