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Rhizopus stolonifer displays necrotrophic behavior when infecting fruit in postharvest

ABSTRACT: Soft rot or Rhizopus rot, caused by the fungal pathogen Rhizopus stolonifer, is an aggressive postharvest disease that affects many fruit and vegetables. We proposed that R. stolonifer displays a necrotrophic behavior when infecting fruit, actively killing the host tissues to complete its life cycle. We tested this hypothesis by identifying R. stolonifer infection strategies when interacting with four fruit hosts (tomato, grape, strawberry, and plum). First, we generated a complete and highly contiguous genome assembly for R. stolonifer using PacBio sequencing, of 45.02 Mb in size, an N50 of 2.87Mb, and 12,644 predicted loci with protein-coding genes. We then performed a transcriptomic analysis to identify genes preferentially used by R. stolonifer when growing in fruit versus culture media, and then classified these host-related genes into clusters according to their expression patterns across four time points. Based on the expression data, we determined that R. stolonifer deploys infection mechanisms characteristic of necrotrophs, including a suite of oxidases, proteases, and cell wall degrading enzymes, when it is actively breaking down tissues of all four fruit hosts. Better understanding R. stolonifer – fruit host interactions can support better diagnostic tools and efficient management strategies in postharvest.

ORGANISM(S): Solanum lycopersicum Fragaria x ananassa Prunus domestica Vitis vinifera Rhizopus stolonifer

PROVIDER: GSE232735 | GEO | 2024/11/01

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Worldwide, 20-25% of all harvested fruit and vegetables are lost annually in the field and throughout the postharvest supply handling chain due to spoilage by fungal pathogens. Most impactful postharvest pathogens exhibit necrotrophic lifestyles, resulting in rotting of the host tissues and complete loss of marketable commodities. Necrotrophic fungi can readily infect ripe fruit leading to the rapid establishment of disease symptoms. However, these pathogens generally fail to infect unripe fruit, or remain quiescent until host and environmental conditions stimulate a successful infection. Current research on necrotrophic infections of fruit was mainly focused on the host by characterizing genetic and physicochemical factors that inhibit or promote the disease. However, the pathogenicity and virulence strategies employed by necrotrophic pathogens in ripe and unripe fruit are mostly understudied. Here, we provide a first comparative transcriptomics study of fungal postharvest pathogens: Botrytis cinerea, Rhizopus stolonifer and Fusarium acuminatum, all of which display necrotrophic behavior when infecting fruit. We de novo assembled and annotated the transcriptomes of R. stolonifer, and F. acuminatum and performed a differential gene expression analysis comparing the three fungal transcriptomes during fruit infection with that of fungal in-vitro growth. Analysis of the differentially expressed genes for enrichment of functional annotations revealed shared strategies of the three fungi during infection of compatible (ripe fruit) and incompatible (unripe fruit) hosts. We furthermore selected candidate genes that are involved in these strategies to characterize their expression during infection of unripe and ripe-like fruit of the non-ripening (nor) tomato mutant, both of which are physiologically and biochemically similar to unripe wildtype fruit. By enabling a better understanding of fungal necrotrophic infection strategies, we move closer to generating accurate models of fruit diseases and development of early detection tools and effective management strategies.

Project description:Background: Anthocyanins are the most important compounds for nutritional quality and economic values of blood orange. However, there are few reports on the pre-harvest treatment accelerate the accumulation of anthocyanins in postharvest blood orange fruit. Here, we performed a comparative Transcriptome and metabolomics analysis to elucidate the underlying mechanism involved in seasonal drought (SD) treatment during fruit expansion stage on anthocyanin accumulation in postharvest ‘Tarocco’ blood orange fruit. Results: Our results showed that SD treatment slowed down the fruit enlargement and increased the sugar accumulation during fruit development and matured period. Obviously, under SD treatment, the accumulation of anthocyanin in blood orange fruit during postharvest storage was significantly accelerated and markedly higher than that in CK. Meanwhile, the total flavonoids and phenols contents and antioxidant activity in SD treatment fruit were also sensibly increased during postharvest storage. Based on metabolome, we found that substrates required for anthocyanin biosynthesis, such as amino acids and their derivatives, and phenolic acids, have significantly accumulated and higher in SD treated mature fruit compared with that of CK. Further according to the results of transcriptome data and weighted gene coexpression correlation network analysis (WGCNA) analysis, phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL3) was considered key structural gene. qRT-PCR analysis verified that the PAL3 was highly expressed in SD treated postharvest stored fruit and was significantly positively correlated with the anthocyanin content. Moreover, we found that other structural genes in anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway were also upregulated under SD treatment through transcriptome data and qRT-PCR analysis. Conclusions: The findings suggest that SD treatment promotes the accumulation of substrates necessary for anthocyanin biosynthesis during fruit ripening process, and activates the expression of anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway genes during postharvest storage period, especially PAL3, co-contributed to the rapid accumulation of anthocyanin. The present study provides a theoretical basis for postharvest quality control and water-saving utilization of blood orange fruit.

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Rhizopus stolonifer displays necrotrophic behavior when infecting fruit in postharvest

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