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Gene expression trade‐offs between defence and growth in E nglish elm induced by Ophiostoma novo‐ulmi
Author(s) -
Perdiguero Pedro,
SobrinoPlata Juan,
Venturas Martin,
Martín Juan Antonio,
Gil Luis,
Collada Carmen
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
plant, cell and environment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.646
H-Index - 200
eISSN - 1365-3040
pISSN - 0140-7791
DOI - 10.1111/pce.13085
Subject(s) - dutch elm disease , biology , pathosystem , ophiostoma , gene , xylem , plant disease resistance , genetics , fungus , microbiology and biotechnology , botany
Wilt diseases caused by vascular pathogens include some of the most damaging stresses affecting trees. Dutch elm disease (DED), caused by the fungus Ophiostoma novo‐ulmi , destroyed most of North American and European elm populations in the 20th century. The highly susceptible English elm, also known as Atinian clone, suffered the highest mortality rates during the last pandemic event, probably due to its lack of genetic diversity. To study the DED pathosystem, we inoculated English elm ramets with O. novo‐ulmi and evaluated xylem anatomy, molecular response, and disease symptoms. The high DED susceptibility of the clone was linked to xylem structure. The transcript levels changed significantly for 1,696 genes during O. novo‐ulmi invasion. Genes covering different steps of the plant immune system were identified, many of which showed homology with Arabidopsis thaliana genes involved in systemic acquired resistance. Induction of several pathogenesis‐related proteins and repression of fasciclin‐like arabinogalactan proteins and other cell wall biosynthesis pathways evidence unbalanced costs between growth and defence mechanisms far from the inoculation point. This study sheds light on elm molecular defence mechanisms against DED.