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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Parlier, California » San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Sciences Center » Crop Diseases, Pests and Genetics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #201545
Title: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF EST'S INVOLVED IN GRAPE RESPONSES TO XYLELLA FASTIDIOSA INFECTION

Author
item Lin, Hong
item DODDAPANENI, HARSHAVARDHAN - UC, DAVIS
item TAKAHASHI, YURI - UC, DAVIS
item WALKER, ANDREW - UC, DAVIS

Submitted to: BMC Plant Biology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/13/2007
Publication Date: 2/22/2007
Citation: Lin, H., Doddapaneni, H., Takahashi, Y., Walker, A. 2007. Comparative analysis of est's involved in grape responses to Xylella fastidiosa infection. Biomed Central (BMC) Plant Biology 2007, 7:8, doi:10.1186/1471-2229-7-8

Interpretive Summary: The xylem-limited, gram-negative bacterium Xylella fastidiosa (Xf) is the causal agent of Pierce's disease (PD) in grape. Genetic breeding efforts have selected and identified PD resistance in grapes. However, the molecular-basis of resistance genes and characterization of the plant’s response to this pathogen are lacking. A cloning strategy was developed to identify the genes and patterns of gene expression derived from stems, leaves and shoots of PD resistant and susceptible grape siblings in response to Xf infection at various stages of disease development. A total of 5,794 gene sequences were analyzed. These sequences were further reduced to the 993 groups with 949 non-redundant sequences. Using Gene Ontology (GO) software, the putative functions of these genes were classified into three principal categories: molecular function (30%), cellular components (9%) and biological processes (7%). Comparative analysis found variation in gene expression levels between infected and non-infected PD resistant and PD susceptible grape selections. Gene expression in stem tissues showed significant differences in response to Xf infection. This study constitutes the first attempt to characterize the gene expression of grape associated with host-pathogen interactions.

Technical Abstract: The xylem-limited, gram-negative bacterium Xylella fastidiosa (Xf) is the causal agent of Pierce's disease (PD) in grape. Current molecular breeding efforts are focused on identifying the genetic basis of PD resistance in grapes. However, a transcriptome level characterization of the host response to pathogen infection is lacking. Twelve tissue specific subtractive suppression hybridization (SSH) cDNA libraries derived from a time course sampling scheme were constructed from stems, leaves and shoots of PD resistant and susceptible sibling genotypes (V. rupestris x V. arizonica) in response to Xf infection. A total of 5,794 sequences were obtained from these cDNA libraries from which 993 contigs and 949 singletons were derived. Using Gene Ontology (GO) hierarchy, the non-redundant sequences were classified into the three principal categories: molecular function (30%), cellular components (9%) and biological processes (7%). Comparative analysis found variation in EST expression levels between the infected and non-infected PD resistant and PD susceptible grape genotypes. Among the three tissues, libraries from stem tissues showed significant differences in transcript quality suggesting their important role in the grape-Xylella interaction. This study constitutes the first attempt to characterize the Vitis differential transcriptome associated with host-pathogen interactions from different tissues and genotypes.