Abstract Detail

Basic and applied approaches to improve disease resistance in plants

Day, Brad [1].

Next-generations solutions for the detection of plant pathogens: From genes to genomes to nanobiosensors.

Pseudoperonospora cubensis is an obligate oomycete pathogen capable of infecting >20 genera of cucurbits, including cucumber (Cucumis sativus), melon (Cucumis melo), watermelon (Citrullus lanatus). Recent disease epidemics suggest that the widely incorporated cucumber resistance locus, dm-1, is no longer sufficient in providing durable and sustainable resistance to this fast-evolving pathogen, and in recent years, numerous reports have begun to define the molecular and genetic basis of host resistance and pathogen virulence, and in some cases, have identified putative mechanisms that underpin signaling at the host-pathogen interface. In the current study, a time course of infection was conducted on susceptible and resistant cucumber varieties in order to couple a comprehensive phenotypic, molecular, and transcriptomic analyses to better understand the biological processes underlying host resistance. Using this approach, we have conducted a comprehensive analysis describing the timing of the resistance, including the identification and analysis of the downstream transcriptional changes associated with resistance, pathogen growth and development, and disease symptom development could be precisely monitored. In brief, the genes and gene networks hypothesized as underpinning resistance were first identified using DESeq2, and from this, patterns of expression among groups of significantly differentially expressed genes were identified using a weighted genome correlation network analysis and modules were identified in which sets of genes demonstrated opposite patterns of expression in the resistant and susceptible cucumber. Data will be presented supporting our hypothesis that resistance to P. cubensis is regulated by multiple genes, and moreover, that virulence is driven, in part, through the precise temporal expression of small RNAs from the pathogen. The translation of this work into DNA-nanobased methods for pathogen detection will also be discussed.

1 - Michigan State University, Plant, Soil, and Microbial Sciences, 1066 Bogue Street, A286, 4200 Molecular Plant Sciences, East Lansing, MI, 48823, USA

Keywords:
RNA-Seq
oomycete
Plant-Pathogen Interaction
genomics.

Presentation Type: Symposium Presentation
Session: SY05
Location: Salon 2/The Shaw Conference Centre
Date: Monday, July 27th, 2015
Time: 3:45 PM
Number: SY05006
Abstract ID:1353
Candidate for Awards:None