Open AccessNPR1 and EDS11 contribute to host resistance against Fusarium culmorum in Arabidopsis buds and flowers
Author(s) -
CUZICK ALAYNE,
LEE SARAH,
GEZAN SALVADOR,
HAMMONDKOSACK KIM E.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
molecular plant pathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.945
H-Index - 103
eISSN - 1364-3703
pISSN - 1464-6722
DOI - 10.1111/j.1364-3703.2008.00488.x
Subject(s) - biology , fusarium culmorum , jasmonic acid , arabidopsis , npr1 , salicylic acid , fusarium , mutant , mycotoxin , host (biology) , botany , plant disease resistance , pathogen , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , gene , medicine , heart failure , natriuretic peptide
SUMMARY The cereal ear blight fungal pathogen Fusarium culmorum can infect Arabidopsis floral tissue, causing disease symptoms and mycotoxin production. Here we assessed the effect of seven mutants and one transgenic overexpression line, residing in either the salicylic acid (SA), jasmonic acid (JA) or ethylene (ET) defence signalling pathways, on the outcome of the Fusarium –Arabidopsis floral interaction. The bacterial susceptiblity mutant eds11 was also assessed. Flowering plants were spray inoculated with F. culmorum conidia to determine the host responses to initial infection and subsequent colonization. Enhanced susceptibility and higher concentrations of deoxynivalenol mycotoxin were observed in buds and flowers of the npr1 and eds11 mutants than in the wild‐type Col‐0 plants. An effect of the other two defence signalling pathways on disease was either absent (ET/JA combined), absent/minimal (ET) or inconclusive (JA). Overall, this study highlights a role for NPR1 and EDS11 in basal defence against F. culmorum in some floral organs. This is the first time that any of these well‐characterized defence signalling mutations have been evaluated for a role in floral defence in any plant species.