Novel disease susceptibility factors for fungal necrotrophic pathogens in Arabidopsis

PLoS Pathog. 2015 Apr 1;11(4):e1004800. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1004800. eCollection 2015 Apr.

Abstract

Host cells use an intricate signaling system to respond to invasions by pathogenic microorganisms. Although several signaling components of disease resistance against necrotrophic fungal pathogens have been identified, our understanding for how molecular components and host processes contribute to plant disease susceptibility is rather sparse. Here, we identified four transcription factors (TFs) from Arabidopsis that limit pathogen spread. Arabidopsis mutants defective in any of these TFs displayed increased disease susceptibility to Botrytis cinerea and Plectosphaerella cucumerina, and a general activation of non-immune host processes that contribute to plant disease susceptibility. Transcriptome analyses revealed that the mutants share a common transcriptional signature of 77 up-regulated genes. We characterized several of the up-regulated genes that encode peptides with a secretion signal, which we named PROVIR (for provirulence) factors. Forward and reverse genetic analyses revealed that many of the PROVIRs are important for disease susceptibility of the host to fungal necrotrophs. The TFs and PROVIRs identified in our work thus represent novel genetic determinants for plant disease susceptibility to necrotrophic fungal pathogens.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Arabidopsis / microbiology*
  • Disease Susceptibility / immunology*
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / physiology
  • Microscopy, Confocal
  • Mycoses / immunology*
  • Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis
  • Plant Diseases / genetics
  • Plant Diseases / immunology
  • Plant Diseases / microbiology*
  • Plant Immunity / physiology*
  • Plant Proteins / genetics
  • Plant Proteins / immunology
  • Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Transcription Factors / genetics
  • Transcription Factors / immunology

Substances

  • Plant Proteins
  • Transcription Factors

Associated data

  • GEO/GSE36308
  • GEO/GSM886777
  • GEO/GSM886778
  • GEO/GSM886779
  • GEO/GSM886780
  • GEO/GSM886781
  • GEO/GSM886782
  • GEO/GSM886783
  • GEO/GSM886784
  • GEO/GSM886785
  • GEO/GSM886786
  • GEO/GSM886787
  • GEO/GSM886788

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Spanish MINECO (BFU2012 to PV), and Generalitat Valenciana (Prometeo2014/020 to PV). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.