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Alpha-momorcharin, a RIP produced by bitter melon, enhances defense response in tobacco plants against diverse plant viruses and shows antifungal activity in vitro

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Abstract

Alpha-momorcharin (α-MMC) is type-1 ribosome inactivating proteins (RIPs) with molecular weight of 29 kDa and has lots of biological activity. Our recent study indicated that the α-MMC purified from seeds of Momordica charantia exhibited distinct antiviral and antifungal activity. Tobacco plants pre-treated with 0.5 mg/mL α-MMC 3 days before inoculation with various viruses showed less-severe symptom and less reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation compared to that inoculated with viruses only. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis revealed that the replication levels of viruses were lower in the plants treated with the α-MMC than control plants at 15 days post inoculation. Moreover, the coat protein expression of viruses was almost completely inhibited in plants which were treated with the α-MMC compared with control plants. Furthermore, the SA-responsive defense-related genes including non-expressor of pathogenesis-related genes 1 (NPR1), PR1, PR2 were up-regulated and activities of some antioxidant enzymes including superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD) were increased after the α-MMC treatment. In addition, the α-MMC (500 μg/mL) revealed remarkable antifungal effect against phytopathogenic fungi, in the growth inhibition range 50.35–67.21 %, along with their MIC values ranging from 100 to 500 μg/mL. The α-MMC had also a strong detrimental effect on spore germination of all the tested plant pathogens along with concentration as well as time-dependent kinetic inhibition of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. The α-MMC showed a remarkable antiviral and antifungal effect and hence could possibly be exploited in crop protection for controlling certain important plant diseases.

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Abbreviations

ChiVMV:

Chilli veinal mottle virus

CMV:

Cucumber mosaic virus

dpi:

Days post inoculation

GFP:

Green fluorescent protein

MIC:

Minimum inhibitory concentration

α-MMC:

Alpha-momorcharin

PR:

Pathogenesis related

PDA:

Potato-dextrose-agar

ROS:

Reactive oxygen species

TMV:

Tobacco mosaic virus

TuMV:

Turnip mosaic potyvirus

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Steve Whitham (Iowa State University, Iowa, USA) for providing TMV-GFP and TuMV-GFP. This work was supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (91017004, 30970214, 31070210, 31071669 and 31171835), National Key Basic Research ‘973’ Program of China (2009CB118500), Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2011SCU04B34) and Doctoral Foundation of the Ministry of Education (20110181110059).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Bio-Resource and Eco-Environment, College of Life Science, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610064, China

    Feng Zhu, Ping Zhang, Yan-Fa Meng, Fei Xu, Da-Wei Zhang, Jian Cheng, Hong-Hui Lin & De-Hui Xi

  2. State Key Laboratory of Hydraulics and Mountain River Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, China

    Hong-Hui Lin

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  1. Feng Zhu
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Correspondence to De-Hui Xi.

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Zhu, F., Zhang, P., Meng, YF. et al. Alpha-momorcharin, a RIP produced by bitter melon, enhances defense response in tobacco plants against diverse plant viruses and shows antifungal activity in vitro. Planta 237, 77–88 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-012-1746-3

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