Abstract
Sterol acquisition by soilborne plant pathogens of the genus Phytophthora is presumed to involve extracellular proteins belonging to class-I elicitins. However, little is known about the relationship between sterol availability and elicitin secretion. The objective of this study was to determine the expression of class-I elicitin genes in Phytophthora sojae when grown in a medium containing stigmasterol or cholesterol. P. sojae growth was stimulated by nanomolar concentrations of stigmasterol and cholesterol, which also resulted in the down-regulation of its elicitin genes over time when expression profiles were monitored using real time Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR). The down-regulation of elicitin genes in response to the two sterols also coincided with a reduction in the amount of elicitins detected in spent filtrates. Our study is the first to show the influence of sterols on elicitin gene expression in Phytophthora, which is important with respect to the ecology of elicitin secretion as sterol carrier proteins in the environment.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by an Alumni Grant for Graduate Research and Scholarship from the Ohio State University (first author) and the USDA National Needs Graduate Fellowship Program. We appreciate the generosity of Dr. Anne Dorrance for providing the Phytophthora sojae isolate. The first author appreciates advice received from Dr. Terry Graham.
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Yousef, L.F., Yousef, A.F., Mymryk, J.S. et al. Stigmasterol and Cholesterol Regulate the Expression of Elicitin Genes in Phytophthora sojae . J Chem Ecol 35, 824–832 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-009-9653-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-009-9653-1