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Luteoforol, a flavan 4-ol, is induced in pome fruits by prohexadione-calciumand shows phytoalexin-like properties against Erwinia amylovoraand other plant pathogens

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Abstract

Treatments with prohexadione-calcium led to lowered incidence of fire blight, scab and other diseases in pome fruit trees and other crop plants. In addition to acting as a growth regulator, prohexadione-calcium interferes with flavonoid metabolism and induces the accumulation of the 3-deoxycatechin luteoliflavan in shoots of pome fruit trees. Luteoliflavan does not possess any remarkable antimicrobial activity. Therefore luteoforol, its unstable and highly reactive precursor, has been tested in vitro for its bactericidal and fungicidal activities. Luteoforol was found to be highly active against different strains of Erwinia amylovora, the causal agent of fire blight, and all other bacterial and fungal organisms tested. Phytotoxic effects were also observed in pear plantlets. The results obtained indicate that prohexadione-calcium induces luteoforol as an active principle with non-specific biocidal properties. It is proposed that luteoforol is released upon pathogen attack from its cellular compartment and inhibits further disease development by destroying pathogen cells as well as by inducing a hypersensitive-like reaction in the host plant tissue. This mechanism would be closely analogous to the one known for structurally related phytoalexins in sorghum.

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Abbreviations

FHT:

flavanone 3-hydroxylase

ProCa:

prohexadione-calcium

TrixE:

trinexapac-ethyl

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Arboriculture, University of Bologna, , viale Fanin 46, 40127, Bologna, Italy;

    Francesco Spinelli & Guglielmo Costa

  2. BASF Agricultural Center, Global Research Crop Protection PR/HB, Li 470 67114, Limburgerhof, Germany

    John-Bryan Speakman & Wilhelm Rademacher

  3. Institute of Technical BioScience, Technical University of Vienna, Getreidemarkt 9, 1060, Vienna, Austria

    Heidi Halbwirth & Karl Stich

Authors
  1. Francesco Spinelli
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  2. John-Bryan Speakman
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  3. Wilhelm Rademacher
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  4. Heidi Halbwirth
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  5. Karl Stich
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  6. Guglielmo Costa
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Correspondence to Francesco Spinelli.

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Spinelli, F., Speakman, JB., Rademacher, W. et al. Luteoforol, a flavan 4-ol, is induced in pome fruits by prohexadione-calciumand shows phytoalexin-like properties against Erwinia amylovoraand other plant pathogens. Eur J Plant Pathol 112, 133–142 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10658-005-2192-x

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