Biosensors: A Sneak Peek into Plant Cell’s Immunity

Biosensors are indispensable tools to understand a plant’s immunity as its spatiotemporal dimension is key in withstanding complex plant immune signaling. The diversity of genetically encoded biosensors in plants is expanding, covering new analytes with ever higher sensitivity and robustness, but their assortment is limited in some respects, such as their use in following biotic stress response, employing more than one biosensor in the same chassis, and their implementation into crops. In this review, we focused on the available biosensors that encompass these aspects. We show that in vivo imaging of calcium and reactive oxygen species is satisfactorily covered with the available genetically encoded biosensors, while on the other hand they are still underrepresented when it comes to imaging of the main three hormonal players in the immune response: salicylic acid, ethylene and jasmonic acid. Following more than one analyte in the same chassis, upon one or more conditions, has so far been possible by using the most advanced genetically encoded biosensors in plants which allow the monitoring of calcium and the two main hormonal pathways involved in plant development, auxin and cytokinin. These kinds of biosensor are also the most evolved in crops. In the last section, we examine the challenges in the use of biosensors and demonstrate some strategies to overcome them.

Biosensors: A Sneak Peek into Plant Cell’s Immunity

Biosensors are indispensable tools to follow plant’s immunity as its spatiotemporal dimension is key in withstanding the complex plant immune signaling. The diversity of genetically encoded biosensors in plants is expanding, covering new analytes with ever higher sensitivity and robustness, but their assortment is limited in some aspects, such as their use to follow biotic stress response, employing more than one biosensor in the same chassis and their implementation into crops. In this review, we focused on the available biosensors that encompass these aspects. We show that in vivo imaging of calcium and reactive oxygen species is satisfactorily covered with the available genetically encoded biosensors, while on the other hand they are still underrepresented when it comes to imaging of the main three hormonal players of the immune response, salicylic acid, ethylene and jasmonic acid. Following more than one analyte in the same chassis, upon one or more conditions has so far been possible by using the most advanced genetically encoded biosensors in plants which allow to monitor calcium and two main hormonal pathways involved in plant development, auxin and cytokinin. These kinds of biosensors are also the most evolved in crops. In the last section, we gathered the challenges in the use of the biosensors and showed some strategies to overcome them.

Gene expression profiling of Tea (Camellia sinensis L.) in response to biotic stress using microarrays

ABSTRACTThe blister blight (BB) and grey blight (GB) diseases are the major biotic stresses, which affecting the plant health, yield and quality of tea. The study aims to understand the gene response of tea plants against destructing foliar diseases in terms of differential gene expression and their pathways through microarray analysis aid by MapMan® software. The results of expression profile analysis showed that 235 in BB and 258 for GB genes were differentially expressed (at P<0.05) which involving in gene regulatory function as biotic stress response. Similarly, 76 and 86 differentially expressed genes involving in cellular response during BB and GB diseases, respectively. However, 28 in BB and 9 in GB differentially expressed (P<0.01) genes were putatively involved in biotic stress response. The study also identified differentially expressed 75 transcription factors (TFs) belongs to 23 TFs superfamily act as either transcriptional activators or repressors. The study helps to understand the differential gene expression pattern and its cellular, molecular and biological mechanisms of tea plants of two different diseases based on microarray analysis. Further studies using biotechnological tools on the stress-responsive genes in the germplasm may enable us for development of disease resistance.