The role and regulation of programmed cell death in plant-pathogen interactions

AbstractStudies on plant-pathogen interactions often involve monitoring disease symptoms or responses of the host plant to pathogen-derived immunogenic patterns, either visually or by staining the plant tissue. Both these methods have limitations with respect to resolution, reproducibility and the ability to quantify the results. In this study we show that red light detection in a multi-purpose fluorescence imaging system that is probably available in many labs can be used to visualize plant tissue undergoing cell death. Red light emission is the result of chlorophyll fluorescence upon thylakoid membrane disassembly during the development of a programmed cell death process. The activation of programmed cell death can occur either during a hypersensitive response to a biotrophic pathogen or an apoptotic cell death triggered by a necrotrophic pathogen. Quantifying the intensity of the red light signal enables to evaluate the magnitude of programmed cell death and provides a non-invasive readout of the plant immune response in a faster and safer manner as compared to chemical staining methodologies previously developed. This application can be implemented to screen for differences in symptom severity in plant-pathogen interactions, and to visualize and quantify in a sensitive and objective manner the intensity of a plant response upon perception of a given immunological pattern. We illustrate the utility and versatility of the method using diverse immunogenic patterns and pathogens.

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Reaction of wheat plants and alternative hosts to Magnaporthe oryzae

Arquivos do Instituto Biológico ◽

10.1590/1808-1657000952017 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 85 (0) ◽

Author(s):

Lucas Gustavo Yock Durante ◽

Lilian Maria Arruda Bacchi ◽

Jessica Evangelista de Souza ◽

Felipe André Sganseria Graichen

Keyword(s):

Cell Death ◽

Magnaporthe Oryzae ◽

Plant Pathogen ◽

Host Plants ◽

Blast Disease ◽

Plant Responses ◽

Defensive Response ◽

Species Pair ◽

Digitaria Sanguinalis ◽

Plant Pathogen Interactions

ABSTRACT: Blast disease, caused by the fungus Magnaporthe oryzae, has a major impact on wheat farming. The study of plant responses to pathogens has improved the management of this disease. Moreover, it is important to identify potential host plants in the crops’ vicinity and to understand reactions caused by plant-pathogen interactions. The objective of this study was to assess the histopathology of wheat plants, Digitaria insularis and Digitaria sanguinalis inoculated with M. oryzae isolates obtained either rice or wheat plants. Thirty-three days after sowing, greenhouse-grown plants of all three species were inoculated with each M. oryzae isolate. The observed effects (48 hours after inoculation) differed depending on the particular interaction between each pathogen isolate-plant species pair. For instance, wheat and D. sanguinalis had the weakest defensive response against spore germination, production of melanized appressoria, and appressorial penetration, with average values above 87, 90, and 43%, respectively, for these events in these plants. Furthermore, germination and appressoria melanization were more aggressive in the rice isolate than in the wheat isolate. Additionally, evidence for a defensive response (such as cell death) was observed in wheat plants inoculated with rice isolates. However, such a response was absent in plants inoculated using wheat isolates, presumably because pathogen recognition failed.

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Apoplastic Cell Death-Inducing Proteins of Filamentous Plant Pathogens: Roles in Plant-Pathogen Interactions

Frontiers in Genetics ◽

10.3389/fgene.2020.00661 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 ◽

Author(s):

Ya Li ◽

Yijuan Han ◽

Mengyu Qu ◽

Jia Chen ◽

Xiaofeng Chen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cell Death ◽

Plant Pathogen ◽

Plant Pathogens ◽

Plant Pathogen Interactions

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SGT1 positively regulates the process of plant cell death during both compatible and incompatible plant-pathogen interactions

Molecular Plant Pathology ◽

10.1111/j.1364-3703.2010.00631.x ◽

2010 ◽

pp. no-no ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

KERI WANG ◽

SRINIVASA RAO UPPALAPATI ◽

XIAOHONG ZHU ◽

SAVITHRAMMA P. DINESH-KUMAR ◽

KIRANKUMAR S. MYSORE

Keyword(s):

Cell Death ◽

Plant Cell ◽

Plant Pathogen ◽

Plant Pathogen Interactions

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Activation of hsr203, a Plant Gene Expressed During Incompatible Plant-Pathogen Interactions, Is Correlated with Programmed Cell Death

Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions ◽

10.1094/mpmi.1998.11.6.544 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 11 (6) ◽

pp. 544-554 ◽

Cited By ~ 99

Author(s):

Dominique Pontier ◽

Maurice Tronchet ◽

Peter Rogowsky ◽

Eric Lam ◽

Dominique Roby

Keyword(s):

Cell Death ◽

Programmed Cell Death ◽

Isonicotinic Acid ◽

Bacterial Pathogen ◽

Gene Promoter ◽

Gus Reporter ◽

Promoter Fusion ◽

Plant Pathogen Interactions ◽

Avr Gene ◽

Incompatible Interactions

hsr203J is a tobacco gene whose activation is rapid, highly localized, and specific for incompatible interactions between tobacco and the bacterial pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum. The effect of other hypersensitive response (HR)-inducing pathogens and elicitors has been tested with transgenic plants containing the hsr203J promoter-GUS reporter gene fusion, and confirms the generality of the preferential inducibility of the hsr203J gene promoter during incompatible interactions: bacterial and viral pathogens inducing an HR in tobacco were able to induce the promoter fusion, as were inducers of HR-like responses such as harpin, elicitins, and PopA1 proteins. A tomato hsr203 homologous cDNA was isolated (Lehsr203) and used to examine the effect of avr gene products on the expression of such genes. Lehsr203 was shown to be rapidly and transiently induced in leaves of the tomato Cf-9 line, following Avr9 product infiltration, but not in those of the Cf-0 line. Among potential effectors of HR or resistance such as H2O2, salicylic acid, methyl jasmonate, and 2,6-dichloro-isonicotinic acid (INA), none is able to induce a significant increase in promoter activation. In contrast, heavy metals that cause leaf necrosis can trigger such an activation. In addition, hsr203-GUS fusion expression is detected in transgenic tobacco lines expressing the bO gene and exhibiting spontaneous HR-like lesions. Taken together, these results demonstrate a strong correlation between hsr203 and genetically controlled cell death in tobacco and tomato. The expression of this gene should be a useful marker for programmed cell death occurring in response not only to diverse pathogens, but also to diverse death-triggering extracellular agents.

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