Project description:Clubroot (Plasmodiophora brassicae) is a pathogen of Brassicaceae that causes significant reductions in yield as a consequence of gall formation in the root and hypocotyl of infected plants. The pathogen hijacks host vascular cambium development and cytokinins are implicated in this process. RNASeq was used to investigate changes in cytokinin metabolism during gall formation of clubroot-infected Arabidopsis thaliana. RNASeq analysis of infected tissue showed that host cytokinin metabolism was strongly down-regulated both at the onset (16 DPI) and late (26 DPI) stages of gall formation. Expression of host genes associated with cytokinin biosynthesis, signalling, degradation and conjugation was strongly repressed. Two isopentenyltransferase genes associated with cytokinin biosynthesis are present in the P. brassicae genome and are expressed throughout gall formation.
Project description:Clubroot (Plasmodiophora brassicae) is a pathogen of Brassicaceae that causes significant reductions in yield as a consequence of gall formation in the root and hypocotyl of infected plants. The pathogen hijacks host vascular cambium development and cytokinins are implicated in this process. Microarray analysis was used to investigate changes in cytokinin metabolism during gall formation of clubroot-infected ipt1;3;5;7 mutants Arabidopsis thaliana. These mutants have severely restricted synthesis of host cytokinins (isopentenyl adenine and trans zeatin) and fail to form a vascular cambium and, as a consequence, do not undergo secondary thickening. Infection of these mutants allows the impact of pathogen-derived cytokinin synthesis to be observed.
Project description:Arabipdosis thaliana (ecotype Col-0) was infected with the root pathogen Plasmodiophora brassicae. Gene expression of the host plant has been analyzed at two time points after inoculation (10 and 23 days after inoculation) compared to the correspondend control plants.
Project description:Gall formation on the belowground parts of plants infected with Plasmodiophora brassicae is the result of extensive host cellular reprogramming. The development of these structures is a consequence of increased cell proliferation followed by massive enlargement of cells colonised with the pathogen. Drastic changes in cellular growth patterns create local deformities in the roots and hypocotyl giving rise to mechanical tensions within the tissue of these organs. Host cell wall extensibility and recomposition accompanies growth of the gall, influences pathogen spread and also pathogen life cycle progression. Demethylation of pectin within the extracellular matrix may play an important role in P. brassicae-driven hypertrophy of host underground organs. Through proteomic analysis of the cell wall we identified proteins accumulating in the galls developing on the underground parts of Arabidopsis thaliana plants infected with P. brassicae. One of the key proteins identified was the pectin methylesterase PME18; we further characterised its expression and conducted functional and anatomic studies in the knock-out mutant and used Raman spectroscopy to study the status of pectin in P. brassicae infected galls. We found that late stages of gall formation are accompanied with increased levels of Pectin Methylesterase 18 (PME18). We have also shown, that the massive enlargement of cells colonised with P. brassicae coincides with decreases in pectin methylation. In pme18-1 knock-out mutants P. brassicae could still induce demethylation; however, the galls in this line were smaller and cellular expansion was less pronounced. Alteration in pectin demethylation in the host resulted in changes in pathogen distribution and slowed down disease progression. To conclude, P. brassicae driven host organ hypertrophy observed during clubroot disease is accompanied by pectin demethylation in the extracellular matrix. The pathogen hijacks endogenous host mechanisms involved in cell wall loosening to create an optimal cellular environment for completion of its life cycle and eventual release of resting spores facilitated by degradation of demethylated pectin polymers.
Project description:Although Plasmodiophora brassicae is one of the most common pathogens worldwide, the causal agent of clubroot disease in Brassica crops, resistance mechanisms to it are still only poorly understood. To study the early defense response induced by P. brassicae infection, a global transcriptome profiling of the roots of two near-isogenic lines (NILs) of clubroot-resistant (CR BJN3-2) and clubroot-susceptible (BJN3-2) Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa) was performed by RNA-seq. Among the 42,730 unique genes mapped to the reference genome of B. rapa, 1,875 and 2,103 genes were found to be up- and down-regulated between CR BJN3-2 and BJN3-2, respectively, at 0, 12, 72, and 96 hours after inoculation (hai). Functional annotation showed that most of the differently expressed genes are involved in metabolism, transport, signal transduction, and defense. Of the genes assigned to plant-pathogen interactions, 151 showed different expression patterns between two NILs, including genes associated with pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) and effectors recognition, calcium ion influx, hormone signaling, pathogenesis-related (PR) genes, transcription factors, and cell wall modification. In particular, the expression level of effector receptors (resistance proteins), PR genes involved in salicylic acid (SA) signaling pathway, were higher in clubroot-resistant NIL, while half of the PAMP receptors were suppressed in CR BJN3-2. This suggests that there was a more robust effector-triggered immunity (ETI) response in CR BJN3-2 and that SA signaling was important to clubroot resistance. The dataset generated by our transcriptome profiling may prove invaluable for further exploration of the different responses to P. brassicae between clubroot-resistant and clubroot-susceptible genotypes, and it will strongly contribute to a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of resistance genes of B. rapa against P. brassicae infection.
Project description:Clubroot (Plasmodiophora brassicae) is a pathogen of Brassicaceae that causes significant reductions in yield as a consequence of gall formation in the root and hypocotyl of infected plants. The pathogen manipulates host cell cycle regulation in order to drive proliferation in early stages of infection and endoreduplication in later stages. Microarrays were used to profile changes in the expression of cell cycle control components at the onset (16 DPI) and late (26 DPI) stages of gall formation.