Botrytis cinerea infection accelerates ripening and cell wall disassembly to promote disease in tomato fruit.

ABSTRACT: Postharvest fungal pathogens benefit from the increased host susceptibility that occurs during fruit ripening. In unripe fruit, pathogens often remain quiescent and unable to cause disease until ripening begins, emerging at this point into destructive necrotrophic lifestyles that quickly result in fruit decay. Here, we demonstrate that one such pathogen, Botrytis cinerea, actively induces ripening processes to facilitate infections and promote disease in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). Assessments of ripening progression revealed that B. cinerea accelerated external coloration, ethylene production, and softening in unripe fruit, while mRNA sequencing of inoculated unripe fruit confirmed the corresponding upregulation of host genes involved in ripening processes, such as ethylene biosynthesi

SUBMITTER: Silva CJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9806607 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature