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Transcriptional profiling of Zea mays roots reveals roles for jasmonic acid and terpenoids in resistance against Phytophthora cinnamomi

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Abstract

Phytophthora cinnamomi is a soil-borne plant pathogen that has caused widespread damage to vulnerable native ecosystems and agriculture systems across the world and shows no sign of abating. Management of the pathogen in the natural environment is difficult and the options are limited. In order to discover more about how resistant plants are able to defend themselves against this generalist pathogen, a microarray study of plant gene expression following root inoculation with P. cinnamomi was undertaken. Zea mays was used as a resistant model plant, and microarray analysis was conducted using the Affymetrix GeneChip Maize Genome Array on root samples collected at 6- and 24-h post-inoculation. Over 300 genes were differentially expressed in inoculated roots compared with controls across the two time points. Following Gene Ontology enrichment analysis and REVIGO visualisation of the up-regulated genes, many were implicated in plant defence responses to biotic stress. Genes that were up-regulated included those involved in phytoalexin biosynthesis and jasmonic acid/ethylene biosynthesis and other defence-related genes including those encoding glutathione S-transferases and serine-protease inhibitors. Of particular interest was the identification of the two most highly up-regulated genes, terpene synthase11 (Tps11) and kaurene synthase2 (An2), which are both involved in production of terpenoid phytoalexins. This is the first study that has investigated gene expression at a global level in roots in response to P. cinnamomi in a model plant species and provides valuable insights into the mechanisms involved in defence.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the Australian Commonwealth Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities for financial support and the Melbourne Node of the Australian Genome Research Facility for processing microarray data. We thank Dr. Michael Gardner and Ms Sharareh Kavkani, Deakin University, for assistance with bioinformatic analyses. MIAME-compliant data are deposited in GEO (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo), accession number GSE27626.

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  1. School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Geelong Campus at Waurn Ponds, Geelong, Victoria, 3217, Australia

    Jane Alisa Allardyce, James Edward Rookes, Hashmath Inayath Hussain & David Miles Cahill

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  1. Jane Alisa Allardyce
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Allardyce, J.A., Rookes, J.E., Hussain, H.I. et al. Transcriptional profiling of Zea mays roots reveals roles for jasmonic acid and terpenoids in resistance against Phytophthora cinnamomi . Funct Integr Genomics 13, 217–228 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10142-013-0314-7

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