Temporal Co-regulation of Pathogenesis in Phytophthora

疫霉发病机制的时间协同调控

• 批准号: BB/J016500/1
• 负责人: Stephen Whisson
• 金额: $ 37.63万
• 依托单位: James Hutton Institute
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2013 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FJ016500%2F1
• 关键词: Temporal; Co; regulation; Pathogenesis; Phytophthora

How do plant pathogens, such as the potato late blight pathogen, Phytophthora infestans, regulate the timing of their different infection stages, and which genes are required at specific stages of plant infection? Despite the enormous cost and impact of Phytophthora diseases, we know little about how this group of pathogens regulate and coordinate specific stages of plant infection that culminate in disease development.Late blight, caused by P. infestans, is the most devastating disease of potato, the third most important food crop globally. The very broad host range pathogen P. capsici is a major threat to vegetables, against which (durable) resistance is not available in most crops. Crop plant diseases caused by Phytophthora pathogens are thus a threat to global food security. The situation in Europe is compounded by legislation banning or restricting some chemicals that farmers rely on to prevent Phytophthora diseases. Changes in pathogen populations, coupled with the need to produce more food with a diminished environmental footprint, means that new avenues of disease control must be sought. In addition to P. infestans and P. capsici, more than 120 species of Phytophthora have been characterized, which collectively cause significant disease on almost all dicot crops. Some are limited in host range, and the resources for host genetics and genomics provide novel opportunities to identify and harness natural disease resistance. However, others, such as P. ramorum and P. kernoviae, are emerging as threats to natural ecosystems, infecting a broad range of tree and shrub species with which they have not co-evolved. To combat these, breeding for resistance is not a viable strategy. A deep understanding of Phytophthora infection biology is required to provide novel, next generation targets for highly specific and environmentally benign chemical control, and to identify new avenues that lead to disease resistance in plant hosts.In order for it to be a successful pathogen, Phytophthora must grow within living plant tissue and then spread to new plants by producing spores. This requires the formation of different pathogen infection structures, which involves the action of many different genes, many of which are only active at these specific stages of infection. The DNA sequences of P. infestans and P. capsici have revealed hundreds (over 500) of candidate virulence factors that are transferred into plant cells to promote disease. These pathogens also have many other potential virulence proteins about which little is known. By identifying which of these candidate virulence genes are most active during specific infection of plants, this project will allow us, for example, to identify how Phytophthora coordinates its gene expression to form specialised infection structures, and what nutrients it obtains from its host plants. However, the main focus of this project is to identify the 'switches' that initiate and regulate expression of the large numbers of genes required for infection. We will search for those regulatory switches that are common to P. infestans and P. capsici, as essential and conserved are likely to be more promising for later development of broadly applicable disease control strategies. As these are likely to be the central controls of Phytophthora disease development, it is likely that disruption of their function will also severely compromise the ability of Phytophthora to cause plant disease. Gene expression underlying specific stages of disease development could be exploited through identification of crop plant traits that interfere with, or otherwise reduce, production of Phytophthora virulence factors. Alternatively, as we are seeking the regulatory components that are common to both narrow and broad host range Phytophthora species, these may be attractive targets for development of new chemical control agents that may also be active against other oomycete plant pathogens.

植物病原菌，如马铃薯晚疫病病原菌、致病疫霉，如何调节其不同侵染阶段的时间，以及在植物侵染的特定阶段需要哪些基因？尽管疫霉病害造成了巨大的损失和影响，但我们对这类病原体如何调节和协调植物感染的特定阶段，最终导致疾病发展知之甚少。晚疫病由致病疫霉引起，是马铃薯最具破坏性的疾病，马铃薯是全球第三大粮食作物。寄主范围非常广的辣椒疫霉是对蔬菜的主要威胁，大多数作物都不能对其产生(持久)抗性。因此，由疫霉病原体引起的作物病害对全球粮食安全构成威胁。欧洲的情况因立法禁止或限制农民用来预防疫病的一些化学品而变得更加复杂。病原体种群的变化，加上在减少环境足迹的情况下生产更多粮食的需要，意味着必须寻找新的疾病控制途径。除致病疫霉和辣椒疫霉外，已鉴定出120多种疫霉，它们共同引起几乎所有双子叶作物的重大病害。有些寄主范围有限，寄主遗传学和基因组学资源为鉴定和利用自然抗病提供了新的机会。然而，其他物种，如P.ramorum和P.kernoviae，正在成为对自然生态系统的威胁，感染尚未与它们共同进化的广泛的乔木和灌木物种。为了对抗这些疾病，培育抗药性并不是一个可行的策略。对疫霉侵染生物学的深入了解，需要为高度特异和环境友好的化学防治提供新的下一代靶标，并确定导致植物寄主抗病的新途径。为了成为成功的病原体，疫霉必须生长在活的植物组织中，然后通过产生孢子传播到新的植物。这需要形成不同的病原体感染结构，这涉及到许多不同基因的作用，其中许多基因只在感染的这些特定阶段活跃。致病疫霉和辣椒疫霉的DNA序列揭示了数百种(超过500种)候选毒力因子，它们被转移到植物细胞中促进疾病的发生。这些病原体还有许多其他潜在的毒力蛋白，但人们对这些蛋白知之甚少。通过确定这些候选毒力基因中的哪些在特定植物感染期间最活跃，该项目将使我们能够例如确定疫霉如何协调其基因表达以形成专门的感染结构，以及它从宿主植物中获得哪些营养物质。然而，该项目的主要重点是识别启动和调节感染所需的大量基因表达的“开关”。我们将寻找致病疫霉和辣椒疫霉共有的调控开关，因为基本和保守的调控开关可能更有希望为以后开发广泛适用的疾病控制策略。由于它们很可能是疫霉疾病发展的核心控制因素，因此它们的功能中断很可能也会严重损害疫霉引起植物病害的能力。可以通过鉴定干扰或以其他方式减少疫霉毒力因子产生的作物植株性状来开发疾病发展特定阶段的基因表达。或者，由于我们正在寻找对狭窄和广泛寄主范围的疫霉物种通用的调节成分，这些成分可能是开发新的化学控制剂的有吸引力的目标，这些化学控制剂也可能对其他卵菌植物病原体具有活性。

项目成果

Devastating intimacy: the cell biology of plant-Phytophthora interactions.

• DOI: 10.1111/nph.16650
• 发表时间: 2020-10
• 期刊: The New phytologist
• 作者: Boevink PC;Birch PRJ;Turnbull D;Whisson SC
• 通讯作者: Whisson SC

High-efficiency green management of potato late blight by a self-assembled multicomponent nano-bioprotectant.

• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41447-8
• 发表时间: 2023-09-12
• 期刊: NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
• 影响因子: 16.6
• 作者: Wang, Yuxi;Li, Mingshan;Ying, Jiahan;Shen, Jie;Dou, Daolong;Yin, Meizhen;Whisson, Stephen C.;Birch, Paul R. J.;Yan, Shuo;Wang, Xiaodan
• 通讯作者: Wang, Xiaodan

The Phytophthora infestans Haustorium Is a Site for Secretion of Diverse Classes of Infection-Associated Proteins.

• DOI: 10.1128/mbio.01216-18
• 发表时间: 2018-08-28
• 期刊: mBio
• 影响因子: 6.4
• 作者: Wang S;Welsh L;Thorpe P;Whisson SC;Boevink PC;Birch PRJ
• 通讯作者: Birch PRJ