Open AccessThaumatin-like proteins and a cysteine protease inhibitor secreted by the pine wood nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus induce cell death in Nicotiana benthamiana
Author(s) -
Haru Kirino,
Kohki Yoshimoto,
Ryoji Shinya
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0241613
Subject(s) - nicotiana benthamiana , bursaphelenchus xylophilus , biology , wilt disease , xylophilus , nicotiana , pathogen , microbiology and biotechnology , nematode , cysteine protease , proteomics , virology , protease , botany , genetics , biochemistry , gene , virus , solanaceae , ecology , enzyme
Pine wilt disease (PWD) is an infectious disease of pines that typically kills affected trees. The causal pathogen of PWD is the pine wood nematode (PWN), Bursaphelenchus xylophilus . Understanding of the disease has advanced in recent years through the use of a highly sensitive proteomics procedure and whole genome sequence analysis; in combination, these approaches have enabled identification of proteins secreted by PWNs. However, the roles of these proteins during the onset of parasitism have not yet been elucidated. In this study, we used a leaf-disk assay based on transient overexpression in Nicotiana benthamiana to allow functional screening of 10 candidate pathogenic proteins secreted by PWNs. These proteins were selected based on previous secretome and RNA-seq analyses. We found that five molecules induced significant cell death in tobacco plants relative to a GFP-only control. Three of these proteins (Bx-TH1, Bx-TH2, and Bx-CPI) may have a role in molecular mimicry and likely make important contributions to inducing hypersensitive responses in host plants.