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Ethylene, but not salicylic acid or methyl jasmonate, induces a resistance response against Phytophthora capsici in Habanero pepper

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Abstract

We sprayed defence-related plant growth regulators (salicylic acid, methyl jasmonate and ethephon) on one-month-old Habanero pepper seedlings cultivated in vitro. Twenty-four hours later, we inoculated the seedlings with a virulent strain of Phytophthora capsici and periodically evaluated the disease symptoms. At the concentrations used, neither salicylic acid nor methyl jasmonate generated a protective effect in the seedlings, which died less than 10 days post inoculation. However, the treatment with 5 mM ethephon delayed or prevented disease symptoms in 30% of the seedlings. Interestingly, blocking the ethylene receptor with a previous application of 300 μM silver nitrate impeded the protective effects of ethephon. This result demonstrated that the plant resistance response required the perception of ethylene. Analysis of transcript populations in ethephon-treated seedlings revealed a direct correlation between survival and the accumulation of PR1, a gene marker of the systemic acquired resistance (SAR). Although the ethephon treatment also modified transcript levels of the plant defensin PDF1.2, a marker of the induced systemic resistance (ISR), in this case the accumulation also occurred when the ethylene receptor was blocked, suggesting a non-specific effect. The ethephon treatment did not modify the expression of NPR1 (a key transcriptional regulator of plant defence). Interestingly, transgenic pepper seedlings overexpressing endogenous PR10 or esterase genes, which are induced by the ET treatment, completely resisted the infection, which corroborated the importance of these genes in the defence response. Our results suggest that ethylene induced a systemic defence response in susceptible seedlings, possibly in an NPR1-independent pathway.

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Abbreviations

dpi:

Days post inoculation

ET:

Ethylene

JA:

Jasmonic acid

MeJA:

Methyl jasmonate

PB:

Phytophthora blight

SA:

Salicylic acid

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Q. Angela Kú Gonzalez for technical assistance in obtaining the scanning electron micrographs, and Dr. Felipe Barahona Pérez for technical assistance in the ethylene measurements. This project had funding from CONACYT grant P48831. RNP and GFAO gratefully acknowledge CONACYT for the scholarships 208245 and 56153, respectively.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unidad de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular de Plantas, Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán, Calle 43 No. 130, Chuburná de Hidalgo, Mérida, 97200, Yucatán, México

    Rosalía Núñez-Pastrana, Ramón Armando Souza-Perera, Carlos Alberto Sánchez-Borges, Yumi Elena Nakazawa-Ueji, Francisco Javier García-Villalobos, Adolfo Alberto Guzmán-Antonio & José Juan Zúñiga-Aguilar

  2. Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas del Noroeste, Mar Bermejo No. 195, Playa Palo de Santa Rita, La Paz, B. C. S., México

    Guadalupe Fabiola Arcos-Ortega

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  1. Rosalía Núñez-Pastrana
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  2. Guadalupe Fabiola Arcos-Ortega
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  8. José Juan Zúñiga-Aguilar
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Correspondence to José Juan Zúñiga-Aguilar.

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Núñez-Pastrana, R., Arcos-Ortega, G.F., Souza-Perera, R.A. et al. Ethylene, but not salicylic acid or methyl jasmonate, induces a resistance response against Phytophthora capsici in Habanero pepper. Eur J Plant Pathol 131, 669–683 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10658-011-9841-z

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