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Streptomyces scabiei and its toxin thaxtomin A induce scopoletin biosynthesis in tobacco and Arabidopsis thaliana

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Abstract

Streptomyces scabiei is the predominant causal agent of common scab of potato in North America. The virulence of common scab-causing streptomycetes relies on their capacity to synthesize thaxtomins. In this study, the effects of S. scabiei infection and of thaxtomin A, the main toxin produced by S. scabiei, were tested for the elicitation of plant defense molecules in the model plants tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) and Arabidopsis thaliana. Tobacco leaves infected with spores of S. scabiei strain EF-35 or infiltrated with purified thaxtomin A produced a blue fluorescent compound that was not detected in leaves infiltrated with spores of a S. scabiei mutant deficient in thaxtomin A biosynthesis. Thin layer chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography identified this fluorescent compound as scopoletin, a plant defense phytoalexin. Arabidopsis seedlings grown in liquid medium also excreted scopoletin as a reaction to S. scabiei and thaxtomin A. The effects of the presence of scopoletin on S. scabiei were also investigated. The phytoalexin scopoletin caused a slight reduction of bacterial growth and a severe decrease of thaxtomin A production. Scopoletin was shown to inhibit thaxtomin A production by repression of a gene involved in the toxin biosynthesis.

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Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to K.B., C.B., and F.D., the Fonds Québécois de Recherche en Nature et Technologie to K.B. and C.B., the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and the Université de Sherbrooke to K.B. Dr. A.H.B. has been supported by a fellowship from the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie.

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre SÈVE, Département de Biologie, Université de Sherbrooke, 2500 boulevard de l’Université, Sherbrooke, QC, J1K 2R1, Canada

    Sylvain Lerat, Mohamed El Oirdi, Nathalie Beaudoin, Kamal Bouarab & Carole Beaulieu

  2. Département de Biologie, Université de Bamako, Bamako, BPE3206, Mali

    Amadou H. Babana

  3. Department of Plant Science, 222 Agriculture Building, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2N2, Canada

    Abdelbassed El Hadrami & Fouad Daayf

Authors
  1. Sylvain Lerat
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  2. Amadou H. Babana
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  3. Mohamed El Oirdi
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  4. Abdelbassed El Hadrami
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  5. Fouad Daayf
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  6. Nathalie Beaudoin
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  7. Kamal Bouarab
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  8. Carole Beaulieu
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Kamal Bouarab or Carole Beaulieu.

Additional information

Communicated by D. Zaitlin.

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Lerat, S., Babana, A.H., El Oirdi, M. et al. Streptomyces scabiei and its toxin thaxtomin A induce scopoletin biosynthesis in tobacco and Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Cell Rep 28, 1895–1903 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-009-0792-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-009-0792-1

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