Project description:Xylella fastidiosa is a plant pathogenic bacterium that has been introduced in the European Union (EU), threatening the agricultural economy of relevant Mediterranean crops such as almond (Prunus dulcis). Plant defense elicitor peptides would be promising to manage diseases such as almond leaf scorch but their effect on the host has not been fully studied. In this work, the response of almond plants to the defense elicitor peptide flg22-NH2 was studied in-depth using RNA-seq, confirming the activation of the salicylic acid and abscisic acid pathways. Marker genes related to the response triggered by flg22-NH2 were used to study the effect of the application strategy of the peptide on almond plants and to depict its time course. The application of flg22-NH2 by endotherapy triggered the highest number of upregulated genes, especially at 6 hours after the treatment. A library of peptides that include BP100-flg15, HpaG23, FV7, RIJK2, PIP-1, Pep13, BP16-Pep13, flg15-BP100 and BP16 triggered a stronger defense response in almond plants than flg22-NH2. The best candidate, FV7, when applied by endotherapy on almond plants inoculated with X. fastidiosa, significantly reduced levels of the pathogen and decreased disease symptoms. Therefore, these novel plant defense elicitors are suitable candidates to manage diseases caused by X. fastidiosa, in particular almond leaf scorch.
Project description:With the aid of a biochip, carrying representative sequences from approximately 2200 sequences from the genome of isolate 9a5c from X. fastidiosa (Xf), microarray-based comparisons have been performed with 6 different Xf isolates obtained from citrus plants (Table 1). Four of these isolates (56a, 9.12c, 187b, and 36f) were obtained from CVC-affected trees and are representatives of the most prevalent Xf haplotypes found in sweet orange orchards across the state of São Paulo, while isolate CV21 was obtained from a non-symptomatic tree from the same region. Isolate Fb7, on the other hand, was obtained from a sweet orange tree that displayed symptoms of “Pecosita”, a disease similar to CVC that occurs in some citrus-growing regions of Argentina. Keywords: Comparative Genomic Hybridization
Project description:Xylella fastidiosa is a plant pathogenic bacterium that has been introduced in the European Union (EU), causing significant yield losses in economically important Mediterranean crops. Almond leaf scorch (ALS) is currently one of the most relevant diseases observed in Spain, and no cure has been found to be effective for this disease. In previous reports, the peptide BP178 has shown a strong bactericidal activity in vitro against X. fastidiosa and to other plant pathogens, and to trigger defense responses in tomato plants. In the present work, BP178 was applied by endotherapy to almond plants cv. Avijor using preventive and curative strategies. The capacity of BP178 to reduce the population levels of X. fastidiosa and to decrease disease symptoms, and its persistence over time were demonstrated under greenhouse conditions. The most effective treatment consisted of a combination of preventive and curative applications and the peptide was detected in the stem up to 60 days post-treatment. Priming plants with BP178 induced defense responses mainly through the salicylic acid pathway, but also overexpressed some genes of the jasmonic acid and ethylene pathways. It is concluded that the bifunctional peptide is a promising candidate to be further developed to manage ALS caused by X. fastidiosa.
Project description:Xylella fastidiosa regulates traits important to both virulence of grape as well as colonization of sharpshooter vectors via its production of a fatty acid signal molecule known as DSF whose production is dependent on rpfF. While X. fastidiosa rpfF mutants exhibit increased virulence to plants they are unable to be spread from plant to plant by insect vectors. To gain more insight into the traits that contribute to these processes, a DNA microarray for this species was designed and utilized to determine the RpfF-dependent regulon by transcriptional profiling. A total of 447 genes whose expression was significantly different between the wild type and an rpfF mutant (FDR<0.05) were identified when cells were grown in PW liquid medium. Among them, 165 genes were down-regulated in the rpfF mutant compared to the wild type strain whereas 282 genes were over-expressed. RpfF function was required for regulation of eleven regulatory and sigma factors including rpfE, yybA, PD1177, glnB, rpfG, PD0954, PD0199, PD2050, colR, rpoH, and rpoD. In general, RpfF is required for regulation of genes involved in attachment and biofilm formation, enhancing expression of hemagglutinin genes hxfA and hxfB and suppressing most type IV pili and gum genes. A large number of other RpfF-dependent genes that might contribute to virulence or insect colonization were also identified such as those encoding hemolysin, colicin V, as well as genes with unknown functions.