TY - JOUR
T1 - Characterization of Fusarium-induced expression of flavonoids and PR genes in maize
AU - Sekhon, Rajandeep S.
AU - Kuldau, Gretchen
AU - Mansfield, Michele
AU - Chopra, Surinder
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported in part by the research support to SC under the Hatch projects 3855, 3905 and 4154, research grant to SC and GK from the Penn State University College of Agricultural Sciences, and funding from a USDA-NRI-2002-03542 grant to SC. RS was supported by a pre-doctoral fellowship from the Pennsylvania State University's Huck Institutes of Life Sciences, and Department of Crop & Soil Sciences. We thank Catherine Svabek and Brian Dombroski for field and technical support, and to Mara Golitz and Nita Jada for assistance in the field experiment. We also appreciate the help of Dr. David Geiser and Jean Juba from the Penn State Fusarium Research Center and Dr. Barbara Christ for assistance in the experimental design of the field trials. We are thankful to two anonymous reviewers for their excellent comments and criticisms that helped to improve this manuscript.
PY - 2006/7
Y1 - 2006/7
N2 - In maize, Fusarium ear rots lead to contamination of grains with mycotoxins and loss of yield. We tested if induced expression of 3-deoxyanthocyanidins and related 3-deoxyflavonoid (flavan-4-ols) compounds in maize silks and kernels impart resistance to Fusarium ear rot. In maize, condensed flavan-4-ols (phlobaphenes) accumulate in floral organs including silks and kernel pericarps and their biosynthesis is regulated by Pericarp color1 (P1) and a linked paralog P2. Three maize lines differing for allelic constitution at the P locus were compared for their response to Fusarium verticillioides and F. graminearum. The moderately resistant maize line P1-rr4B2 carrying both the P1 and the P2 gene showed enhanced accumulation of 3-deoxyanthocyanidins in inoculated silks. The line 4Co63 carrying only the P2 gene exhibited highest resistance to F. verticillioides. Expression data revealed that flavonoid pathway genes were active during the early stages of silk development. In kernels, however, induction of the flavonoid pathway genes was later than that in silks, and higher transcriptional induction was observed in line carrying both P1 and P2 genes. Among the PR genes tested, PR-4 and PR-5 showed developmental as well as fungus-induced expression. Field based ear rot incidence could be correlated with the presence of functional P locus as well as genetic background of the tested maize lines.
AB - In maize, Fusarium ear rots lead to contamination of grains with mycotoxins and loss of yield. We tested if induced expression of 3-deoxyanthocyanidins and related 3-deoxyflavonoid (flavan-4-ols) compounds in maize silks and kernels impart resistance to Fusarium ear rot. In maize, condensed flavan-4-ols (phlobaphenes) accumulate in floral organs including silks and kernel pericarps and their biosynthesis is regulated by Pericarp color1 (P1) and a linked paralog P2. Three maize lines differing for allelic constitution at the P locus were compared for their response to Fusarium verticillioides and F. graminearum. The moderately resistant maize line P1-rr4B2 carrying both the P1 and the P2 gene showed enhanced accumulation of 3-deoxyanthocyanidins in inoculated silks. The line 4Co63 carrying only the P2 gene exhibited highest resistance to F. verticillioides. Expression data revealed that flavonoid pathway genes were active during the early stages of silk development. In kernels, however, induction of the flavonoid pathway genes was later than that in silks, and higher transcriptional induction was observed in line carrying both P1 and P2 genes. Among the PR genes tested, PR-4 and PR-5 showed developmental as well as fungus-induced expression. Field based ear rot incidence could be correlated with the presence of functional P locus as well as genetic background of the tested maize lines.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.pmpp.2007.02.004
DO - 10.1016/j.pmpp.2007.02.004
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:34248546710
SN - 0885-5765
VL - 69
SP - 109
EP - 117
JO - Physiological and Molecular Plant Pathology
JF - Physiological and Molecular Plant Pathology
IS - 1-3
ER -