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Differential expression and phytohormone unbalance in Citrus aurantifolia plants during “sudden decline of lime”, a new phytoplasma disease of citrus

Tropical Plant Pathology volume 43, pages 520–532 (2018)Cite this article

Abstract

For decades, the production of acid lime (Citrus aurantifolia) in Oman has been affected by diseases caused by phytoplasmas, notably witches’ broom disease of lime (WBDL). In recent years, a new phytoplasma strain in Oman has been observed that promotes the sudden decline of lime (SDL). The molecular mechanisms behind its pathogenicity and mode of interaction with citrus host plants is still completely unknown. In this study, we evaluated the differential expression of genes in symptomatic and asymptomatic lime trees in Oman using a real-time quantitative PCR assay. Among 27 regulatory and biosynthesis-related genes tested in Citrus aurantifolia plants during phytoplasma infection, we verified the presence of 14 responsive genes in plants showing SDL symptoms, revealing a specific set of SDL-responsive genes. Quantification data of endogenous 3-indoleacetic acid and jasmonic acid show an unbalanced hormonal content in symptomatic lime trees, corroborating the gene expression data. The identification of regulatory genes differentially expressed in plant-phytoplasma interactions during SDL will help to elucidate the mechanisms possibly involved in defense responses, development and death-triggered signals in infected citrus plants.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by Vale S.A. MSA was a Vale postdoctoral fellow. CMC is the recipient of a CNPq research productivity fellowship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dep. de Fitopatologia, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, MG, 36570-900, Brazil

    Murilo S. Alves, Fábio N. Silva, Dimitrius S. P. S. F. Guimarães & Claudine M. Carvalho

  2. Dep. de Bioquímica e Biologia Molecular, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Campus do Pici, Fortaleza, CE 60440-900, Brazil

    Murilo S. Alves

  3. Dep. de Agronomia, Centro de Ciências Agroveterinárias, Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina, Lages, SC 88520-000, Brazil

    Fábio N. Silva

  4. Center for Analysis of Biomolecules, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, MG 36570-900, Brazil

    Camilo E. Vital & Pedro M. P. Vidigal

  5. Department of Crop Sciences, College of Agricultural and Marine Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, PO Box 34, Al Khod, 123, Sultanate of Oman

    Issa Al-Mahmooli & Abdullah M. Al-Sadi

Authors
  1. Murilo S. Alves
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  2. Fábio N. Silva
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  3. Dimitrius S. P. S. F. Guimarães
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  4. Camilo E. Vital
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  5. Pedro M. P. Vidigal
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  6. Issa Al-Mahmooli
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  7. Abdullah M. Al-Sadi
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  8. Claudine M. Carvalho
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Contributions

MSA and CMC conceived and designed the research. MSA, DSPSFG, PMPV, FNS, CEV, IA and AMA conducted the experiments. MSA and DSPSFG analyzed the data. MSA wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Claudine M. Carvalho.

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Section Editor: Alessandra de Souza

Electronic supplementary material

Supplementary Figure S1

- Agarose gel electrophoresis of 1.2 kb long PCR products of ‘Ca. P. aurantifolia’-related strain 16S ribossomal DNA, from three symptomatic C. aurantifolia midribs samples with sudden decline of lime (SDL), from a total of 12 symptomatic samples. M, 1 kb plus DNA ladder (Thermo-Fisher); (−), water control; 1, 2 and 3, midrib samples from three of 12 lime trees displaying SDL symptoms. (JPG 13 kb)

Supplementary Table S1

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Supplementary Table S2

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Alves, M.S., Silva, F.N., Guimarães, D.S.P.S.F. et al. Differential expression and phytohormone unbalance in Citrus aurantifolia plants during “sudden decline of lime”, a new phytoplasma disease of citrus. Trop. plant pathol. 43, 520–532 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40858-018-0223-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40858-018-0223-3

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