Altered sucrose metabolism during the interaction Piriformospora indica-Arabidopsis and its impact on the parasitism of plant-parasitic nematodes
Abstract
The beneficial endophytic fungus Piriformospora indica colonizes roots of many plant species, including the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, and promotes their growth, development and seed production as well as confers resistance to various biotic and abiotic stresses. Similar to arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi, for this service this endophyte withdraws carbohydrates from the host, most probably hexoses, such as glucose and fructose. In the course of this proposal the up to date widely unknown sugar metabolism in P. indica-colonized Arabidopsis roots will be analysed in detail. First, qPCR will be applied to elucidate whether the fungus specifically changes the expression of several sucrose synthase (SUS) and invertase (INV) genes, which are responsible for conversion of sucrose to glucose and fructose. Further, SUS and INV mutants will be used to test the colonization efficiency of the fungus. In addition, an invertase activity assay as well a sugar pool analysis of plants colonized with P. indica will shed light on the changes in sugar household during this mutualistic interaction. Recently it was shown that P. indica colonization as well as the application of its exudates and cell wall extracts significantly affects the development of cyst nematodes. Therefore, systemic effects of P. indica on the parasitism of both cyst and root-knot nematodes, Heterodera schachtii and Meloidogyne javanica, respectively, in split-root system will be tested. Finally, to elucidate the role of P. indica-derived SUS and INV, knockdown transformants of the fungus will be generated using electroporation and RNA interference. Subsequently, the role of knockdown sucrose processing enzymes during plant colonization as well as their impact on nematode parasitism will be characterized. The results obtained in the course of this proposal will widen our knowledge about interaction between P. indica and its host plant and could have promising potential for improving crop productivity and protection against plant-parasitic nematodes.
keywords Piriformosfora indica cyst and root-knot nematodes sucrose metabolism and processing sucrose synthases Arabidopsis
Publikationen
Serendipita indica alters sugar metabolism, defense response and development of plant-parasitic nematodes in Arabidopsis
Autoren: Opitz, M; Ruiz-Ferrer, V; Díaz-Manzano, FE; Escobar, C; Daneshkhah, R; Steinkellner, S; Wieczorek, K Jahr: 2020
Conference & Workshop proceedings, paper, abstract
Project staff
Krzysztof Wieczorek
Priv.-Doz. Mag. Dr. Krzysztof Wieczorek
krzysztof.wieczorek@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-95306
Project Leader
04.02.2017 - 03.08.2021