Study of defense genes expression profile pattern of wheat in response to infection by Mycosphaerella graminicola

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of salicylic acid on the gene expression pattern of four enzymes; Phenylalanine ammonialyase, Polyphenol oxidase, Peroxidase and Catalase in wheat-Mycosphaerella graminicola pathosystem. For this reason, Salicylic Acid (2mm) were sprayed on wheat in two-leaf stage before inoculation with the fungal pathogen. Sampling of the plants was done at five time points (0, 3, 6, 12 and 24 h) after inoculation. The scanning of genes expression pattern of encoding enzymes were carried out by reverse northern dot blotting method. The results showed that within 24 hours post inoculation the gene expression of these enzymes significantly increased in this tolerant cultivar. SA enhanced the expression of Phenylalanine ammonialyase and Peroxidase genes in all time points. The expression of Polyphenol oxidase was increased by SA after 12h. On the other hand, increasing the expression level of these genes directly increases the activity of the enzymes which indicates direct role of these gens in plant defense system. SA caused a rapid rise in expression of Catalase gene, but this effect was not continued for 24h