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Biocontrol of bacterial soft rot of calla lily by elicitor HarpinXoo and N-acyl homoserine lactonase (AttM)

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Abstract

Bacterial soft rot caused by Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum is a serious plant disease in Zantedeschia spp. (also called calla lily). In this study, two independent genes (a N-acyl homoserine lactonase gene attM from Agrobacterium tumefaciens and a hypersensitive response and pathogenicity gene hrf1 from Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae), transcribed by a strong and constitutive Escherichia coli promoter P lpp , respectively, were cloned into plasmid pUC19, and was transformed into E. coli, creating strain JM109/pPHA. The result of sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS–PAGE) assay showed that both genes (hrf1 and attM) were successfully expressed in one plasmid system in strain JM109/pPHA. The expressed HarpinXoo (Hrf1) and AttM protein had the ability of inducing hypersensitive response (HR) in nonhost tobacco and degrading the N-acyl homoserine lactones (AHLs) produced by P. carotovorum subsp. carotovorum, respectively, whereas HarpinXoo and AttM protein did not seem to interfere with the normal growth of this pathogen. In planta, strain JM109/pPHA could significantly reduce the soft rot disease severity on dormant tubers (control efficiency: 92.8%) or potted plants (control efficiency: 92.4%) of calla lily. We have first demonstrated the both biocontrol effects of HarpinXoo and AttM proteins (also described as Quorum interference) on the bacterial soft rot disease of calla lily, caused by P. carotovorum subsp. carotovorum. This work provided a potential way to control this serious plant disease.

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Acknowledgment

We are grateful to Dr. Yu Chen and Suomeng Dong (Colledge of Plant Protection, Nanjing Agricultural University) for their critical revisions of this manuscript. This work was supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (No.2006AA10A211), Science and Technology support XinJiang project (No. 200840102-03), and the Key Technologies of Agricultural Research and Development Program of Shanghai (No. 1–2, 2007).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Pathology, College of Plant Protection, Nanjing Agricultural University, 210095, Nanjing, China

    Jiaqin Fan, Guoliang Qian, Xue Yang, Chunyan Gu, Yuejing Kang, Yao Ma, Baishi Hu & Fengquan Liu

  2. Key Laboratory of Monitoring and Management of Crop Diseases and Pest Insects, Ministry of Agriculture, 210095, Nanjing, China

    Jiaqin Fan, Guoliang Qian, Xue Yang, Chunyan Gu, Yuejing Kang, Yao Ma, Baishi Hu & Fengquan Liu

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  1. Jiaqin Fan
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  2. Guoliang Qian
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  3. Xue Yang
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  4. Chunyan Gu
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  5. Yuejing Kang
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  7. Baishi Hu
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  8. Fengquan Liu
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Correspondence to Baishi Hu or Fengquan Liu.

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The authors Jiaqin Fan and Guoliang Qian contribute equally to this research.

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Fan, J., Qian, G., Yang, X. et al. Biocontrol of bacterial soft rot of calla lily by elicitor HarpinXoo and N-acyl homoserine lactonase (AttM). World J Microbiol Biotechnol 27, 401–410 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-010-0471-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-010-0471-y

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