Project description:Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) is an economically important vegetable crop distributed in over 80 countries. Downy mildew (DM) caused by the obligate oomycete Pseudoperonospora cubensis is especially destructive in cucumber production. So far, few studies on the changes in proteomes during the P. cubensis infection have been performed. Using a newly developed TMT-LC-MS/MS analysis, the proteomes of DM-resistant variety ‘ZJ’ and DM-susceptible variety ‘SDG’ under the P. cubensis infection were investigated. In total, 6400 proteins were identified, 5629 of which were quantified. The differential accumulated proteins (DAPs) exhibited various biological functions and diverse subcellular localizations. KEGG enrichment analysis showed that various metabolic pathways were significantly altered under the P. cubensis infection, such as terpenoid backbone biosynthesis, and selenocompound metabolism in ZJ, and starch and sucrose metabolism in SDG. Most of the enzymes associated with terpenoid backbone synthesis were significantly accumulated in ZJ rather than in SDG, suggesting that pathogen-induced terpenoids accumulation might play an important role in the resistance against P. cubensis infection. Furthermore, a number of pathogenesis-related proteins and heat shock proteins were identified as DAPs, suggesting that DM resistance was controlled by a complex network. Our data allowed us to identify and screen more potential proteins related to the DM resistance.
Project description:Pseudoperonospora cubensis, an obligate biotrophic oomycete causing devastating foliar disease in species of the Cucurbitaceae family, was never reported in seeds or transmitted by seeds. We now show that P. cubensis occurs in fruits and seeds of downy mildew-infected plants but not in fruits or seeds of healthy plants. About 6.7% of the fruits collected during 2012-2014 have developed downy mildew when homogenized and inoculated onto detached leaves and 0.9% of the seeds collected developed downy mildew when grown to the seedling stage. This is the first report showing that P. cubensis has become seed-transmitted in cucurbits. Species-specific PCR assays showed that P. cubensis occurs in ovaries, fruit seed cavity and seed embryos of cucurbits. We propose that international trade of fruits or seeds of cucurbits might be associated with the recent global change in the population structure of P. cubensis.
Project description:Using next generation sequencing to develop molecular diagnostics for Pseudoperonospora cubensis, the cucurbit downy mildew pathogen
