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Response of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) seedlings subjected to artificial infection with the fungus Sphaeropsis sapinea

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Abstract

The ascomycete Sphaeropsis sapinea (syn. Diplodia pinea), the causal agent of Diplodia blight of pine, is also known to be an endophyte with a latent pathogenic potential on pine trees. Due to climate change effects, especially warming and more prolonged or frequent drought events, the hosts are weakened and S. sapinea could become more aggressive in the future. Normally, pines which are 25 years old or older are more susceptible to the disease as compared with younger trees. However, if younger trees are growing on poor sites or are located close to affected trees, they may also become infected. Here, we analyzed the interaction of young pine seedlings (4 years old) with the fungus in vitro, in order to examine the changes in gene activity for example of genes encoding metabolites and therewith contributing to an induced resistance against the fungus. During different stages of infection (control without infection and 14 days after infection), pine needles of four samples per stage (eight samples all together) were collected and analyzed by mRNA sequencing. The comparison between the two stages showed that, nearly independent of the genotype of the plant, 5691 genes were differentially expressed. In the severe stage of infection, elevated transcript levels of genes involved in lignin- and phytoalexin-biosynthesis and of pathogenesis-related genes were found. Furthermore, some of these genes were also validated in a natural population of Pinus sylvestris by reverse transcriptase (RT)-PCR in order to analyze induced defense responses.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to L. Kunz, A. Dolynska, and G. Dinkel for technical assistance in the laboratory.

Funding

This study was part of the “WAHYKLAS” project (No. 28WC403105) funded by the Bundesministerium für Ernährung und Landwirtschaft (BMEL) and the Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz, Bau und Reaktorsicherheit (BMUB), Germany.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Forest Genetics and Forest Tree Breeding, Faculty for Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology, University of Goettingen, Büsgenweg 2, 37077, Goettingen, Germany

    Barbara Vornam, Ludger Leinemann & Oliver Gailing

  2. Department of Forest Protection, FVA Forest Research Institute of Baden-Württemberg (FVA-BW), Freiburg, Germany

    Franziska S. Peters & Joerg Schumacher

  3. Chair of Ecosystem Physiology, Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

    Franziska S. Peters

  4. Department of Medical Statistics, University Medical Center Goettingen, University of Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany

    Alexander Wolff, Andreas Leha & Gabriela Salinas

  5. Microarray and Deep-Sequencing Core Facility, University Medical Center Goettingen, University of Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany

    Gabriela Salinas

  6. Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development – HNE, Eberswalde, Germany

    Joerg Schumacher

Authors
  1. Barbara Vornam
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  2. Ludger Leinemann
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  3. Franziska S. Peters
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  4. Alexander Wolff
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  5. Andreas Leha
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  6. Gabriela Salinas
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  7. Joerg Schumacher
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  8. Oliver Gailing
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Contributions

BV wrote the manuscript. BV and FSP analyzed the qPCR data. FSP and JS performed the infection experiment. GS performed the RNA-sequencing. AW and AL analyzed the RNA-sequencing data. LL and OG contributed to the writing and reviewed and edited the manuscript. All authors read and approved the manuscript for final submission.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Barbara Vornam or Oliver Gailing.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Key Message

The ascomycete Sphaeropsis sapinea causes Diplodia tip blight in pine with devastating effects when associated with other abiotic stress factors such as drought. Here, we identified expressional candidate genes which are involved in defense responses and can be used in breeding programs for S. sapinea resistance.

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Vornam, B., Leinemann, L., Peters, F.S. et al. Response of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) seedlings subjected to artificial infection with the fungus Sphaeropsis sapinea. Plant Mol Biol Rep 37, 214–223 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11105-019-01149-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11105-019-01149-2

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