Molecular sensors reveal the mechano-chemical response of Phytophthora infestans walls and membranes to mechanical and chemical stress.

ABSTRACT: Phytophthora infestans, causal agent of late blight in potato and tomato, remains challenging to control. Unravelling its biomechanics of host invasion, and its response to mechanical and chemical stress, could provide new handles to combat this devastating pathogen. Here we introduce two fluorescent molecular sensors, CWP-BDP and NR12S, that reveal the micromechanical response of the cell wall-plasma membrane continuum in P. infestans during invasive growth and upon chemical treatment. When visualized by live-cell imaging, CWP-BDP reports changes in cell wall (CW) porosity while NR12S reports variations in chemical polarity and lipid order in the plasma membrane (PM). During invasive growth, mechanical interactions between the pathogen and a surface reveal clear and localize

SUBMITTER: Michels L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8760408 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature