Chlorophyll fluorescence imaging for monitoring effects of Heterobasidion parviporum small secreted protein induced cell death and in planta defense gene expression

Zilan Wen, Tommaso Raffaello, Zhen Zeng, Mirko Pavicic, Fred O. Asiegbu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

Heterobasidion parviporum Niemelä & Korhonen is a necrotrophic fungal pathogen of Norway spruce (Picea abies). The H. parviporum genome encodes numerous necrotrophic small secreted proteins (SSP) which might be important for promoting and sustaining the disease development. However, their transcriptional dynamics and plant defense response during infection are largely unknown. In this study, we identified a necrotrophic SSP named HpSSP35.8 and its coding gene was highly expressed in the pre-symptomatic phase of the host (Norway spruce) infection. We explored the impact of HpSSP35.8 on non-host Nicotiana benthamiana using Agrobacterium-mediated transient expression system under visible spectrum RGB imaging and chlorophyll fluorescence imaging. The results showed that HpSSP35.8 triggered a form of SSP-associated programmed cell death, accompanied by a decrease in the plant photosynthetic activity. Defense-related genes including WRKY12, ethylene response factor (ERF1α) and a chitinase gene PR4 were up-regulated in both HpSSP35.8-N. benthamiana interaction and H. parviporum-Norway spruce pathosystem. This study also highlighted the potential to use the chlorophyll fluorescence imaging approach to monitor both the indirect effects of SSP and also for the selection of other potential effector-like protein candidates.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)37-49
Number of pages13
JournalFungal Genetics and Biology
Volume126
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2019
Externally publishedYes

Funding

This work was financially supported by Academy of Finland research grant (project no. 276862 ). Z.W is grateful to the Chinese Scholarship Council for doctoral stipendium. The funding agencies had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Keywords

  • Chlorophyll fluorescence imaging
  • Defense response
  • Necrotrophic pathogen
  • Norway spruce
  • Small secreted protein

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