Extracellular invertase is involved in the regulation of clubroot disease in Arabidopsis thaliana

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Johannes Siemens - , TUD Dresden University of Technology (Author)
  • Maria Cruz González - , University of Würzburg, University of Seville (Author)
  • Sebastian Wolf - , Heidelberg University , AgroParisTech (Author)
  • Christina Hofmann - , Heidelberg University  (Author)
  • Steffen Greiner - , Heidelberg University  (Author)
  • Yejie Du - , Heidelberg University  (Author)
  • Thomas Rausch - , Heidelberg University  (Author)
  • Thomas Roitsch - , University of Würzburg, University of Graz (Author)
  • Jutta Ludwig-Müller - , Department of Medical Biology, Chair of Plant Physiology, TUD Dresden University of Technology (Author)

Abstract

Clubroot disease of Brassicaceae is caused by an obligate biotrophic protist, Plasmodiophora brassicae. During root gall development, a strong sink for assimilates is developed. Among other genes involved in sucrose and starch synthesis and degradation, the increased expression of invertases has been observed in a microarray experiment, and invertase and invertase inhibitor expression was confirmed using promoter::GUS lines of Arabidopsis thaliana. A functional approach demonstrates that invertases are important for gall development. Different transgenic lines expressing an invertase inhibitor under the control of two root-specific promoters, Pyk10 and CrypticT80, which results in the reduction of invertase activity, showed clearly reduced clubroot symptoms in root tissue with highest promoter expression, whereas hypocotyl galls developed normally. These results present the first evidence that invertases are important factors during gall development, most probably in supplying sugars to the pathogen. In addition, root-specific repression of invertase activity could be used as a tool to reduce clubroot symptoms.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)247-262
Number of pages16
JournalMolecular Plant Pathology
Volume12
Issue number3
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2011
Peer-reviewedYes