Abstract Detail

Host/Plant Pathogen Interactions and Plant Health Management

Belmonte, Mark [1], Becker, Michael [2], Zhang, Xuehua [3], Fernando, Dilantha [3].

Comprehensive RNA profiling of the Leptosphaeria maculans – Brassica napus cotyledon pathosystem.

Blackleg caused by the devastating fungal pathogen Leptosphaeria maculans is responsible for millions of dollars in damage to Canadian canola growers each year. While commercially available resistant lines are widely available recent data suggests canola resistance is breaking down from tight rotations and increased fungal pressure. To overcome resistance breakdown it is necessary to understand all of the genes and gene regulatory networks responsible for host pathogen interactions directly at the site of infection from the earliest stages of infection process in the young cotyledon. Canola cotyledons in a susceptible and resistant cultivar were profiled before, during, and after infection with L. maculan and RNAs profiled using Illumina Next Generation RNA Sequencing. Our data show large numbers of genes are activated in response to blackleg infection in the resistant DL15 cultivar compared to susceptible Westar. The resistance phenotype is associated with changes in mRNAs associated with fungal recognition, phytohormone metabolism and signaling in addition to the activation of genes associated with cell wall deposition. We complement our RNA sequence data with in depth histological analysis and provide insight in the regulatory networks responsible for blackleg resistance in canola.

1 - University of Manitoba, Biological Sciences, 50 Sifton Road, Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2N2, Canada
2 - University of Manitoba
3 - University of Manitoba, Plant Science, 222 Agriculture Building, Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2N2, Canada

Keywords:
none specified

Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for Topics
Session: 46
Location: Salon 2/The Shaw Conference Centre
Date: Tuesday, July 28th, 2015
Time: 1:30 PM
Number: 46001
Abstract ID:201
Candidate for Awards:None