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Host-mediated gene silencing of a single effector gene from the potato pathogen Phytophthora infestans imparts partial resistance to late blight disease

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Abstract

RNA interference (RNAi) has proved a powerful genetic tool for silencing genes in plants. Host-induced gene silencing of pathogen genes has provided a gene knockout strategy for a wide range of biotechnological applications. The RXLR effector Avr3a gene is largely responsible for virulence of oomycete plant pathogen Phytophthora infestans. In this study, we attempted to silence the Avr3a gene of P. infestans through RNAi technology. The P. infestans inoculation resulted in lower disease progression and a reduction in pathogen load, as demonstrated by disease scoring and quantification of pathogen biomass in terms of Pi08 repetitive elements, respectively. Transgenic plants induced moderate silencing of Avr3a, and the presence and/or expression of small interfering RNAs, as determined through Northern hybridization, indicated siRNA targeted against Avr3a conferred moderate resistance to P. infestans. The single effector gene did not provide complete resistance against P. infestans. Although the Avr3a effector gene could confer moderate resistance, for complete resistance, the cumulative effect of effector genes in addition to Avr3a needs to be considered. In this study, we demonstrated that host-induced RNAi is an effective strategy for functional genomics in oomycetes.

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Acknowledgments

We are thankful to the Phytophthora, Fusarium, and Ralstonia Disease of Horticultural Crops Project (PhytoFuRa), Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi, for their financial support.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ICAR-Central Potato Research Institute, Shimla, 171001, Himachal Pradesh, India

    Suman Sanju, Sundaresha Siddappa, Aditi Thakur, Sanjeev Sharma & B. P. Singh

  2. Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, School of Biological Sciences, Allahabad, 211007, Uttara Pradesh, India

    Pradeep K. Shukla

  3. Banasthali University, Rajasthan, 304022, India

    Nidhi Srivastava

  4. ICAR-National Research Centre for Plant Biotechnology, IARI, New Delhi, 110012, India

    Debasis Pattanayak

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  1. Suman Sanju
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  2. Sundaresha Siddappa
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  3. Aditi Thakur
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  4. Pradeep K. Shukla
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  5. Nidhi Srivastava
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  6. Debasis Pattanayak
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  7. Sanjeev Sharma
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  8. B. P. Singh
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Correspondence to Sundaresha Siddappa.

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Sanju, S., Siddappa, S., Thakur, A. et al. Host-mediated gene silencing of a single effector gene from the potato pathogen Phytophthora infestans imparts partial resistance to late blight disease. Funct Integr Genomics 15, 697–706 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10142-015-0446-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10142-015-0446-z

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