Analysis on the signaling network involved in the host-switching mechanism of phytoplasmas

本研究旨在探讨植原体寄主转换的分子机制，为进一步研究植原体寄主转换的控制技术奠定基础。利用植原体分离物OY-M及其非虫传突变体OY-NIM进行的比较分析沿着启动子分析表明植原体质粒上的ORF 3与昆虫的遗传性有关。首次研制植原体基因芯片，利用微阵列技术研究植原体基因表达的寄主特异性调控。这些分析表明植原体适应两种不同的寄主，植物和昆虫，通过显着改变其基因表达响应主机。

We investigated the molecular mechanism of phytoplasmal host switching to establish the basis of developing techniques to control the phytoplasma infection. Comparative analyses along with promoter analyses using phytoplasma isolate OY-M and its non-insect-transmissible mutant OY-NIM revealed that ORF3 located in the plasmid of phytoplasmas are involved in insect transmissibility. We developed phytoplasma DNA chip for the first time and performed microarray analysis to study host-specific regulation of phytoplasmal gene expressions. This analysis showed that phytoplasmas adapt to two diverse hosts, plants and insects, by dramatical alterations of their gene expression in response to the host.