Phytophthora cinnamomi is one of the most invasive tree pathogens that devastates wild and cultivated forests. Due to its wide host range, knowledge of the infection process at the molecular level is lacking for most of its tree hosts. To expand the repertoire of studied Phytophthora-woody plant interactions and identify molecular mechanisms that can facilitate discovery of novel ways to control its spread and damaging effects, we focused on the interaction between P. cinnamomi and sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa), an economically important tree for the wood processing industry. By using a combination of proteomics, metabolomics, and targeted hormonal analysis, we mapped the effects of P. cinnamomi attack on stem tissues immediately bordering the infection site and away from it. P. cinnamomi led to a massive reprogramming of the chestnut proteome and accumulation of the stress-related hormones salicylic acid (SA) and jasmonic acid (JA), indicating that stem inoculation can be used as an easily accessible model system to identify novel molecular players in P. cinnamomi pathogenicity.

• Keywords
• Phytophthora cinnamomi, metabolomics, proteomics, sweet chestnut,
• MeSH
• Cyclopentanes metabolism   MeSH
• Wood MeSH
• Fagaceae metabolism   microbiology   MeSH
• Homeostasis MeSH
• Plant Roots MeSH
• Salicylic Acid metabolism   MeSH
• Metabolomics MeSH
• Plant Diseases microbiology   MeSH
• Oxylipins metabolism   MeSH
• Phytophthora pathogenicity   MeSH
• Proteomics MeSH
• Plant Growth Regulators metabolism   MeSH
• Signal Transduction MeSH
• Binding Sites MeSH
• Computational Biology MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Cyclopentanes MeSH
• jasmonic acid MeSH Browser
• Salicylic Acid MeSH
• Oxylipins MeSH
• Plant Growth Regulators MeSH

BACKGROUND: Although many genetic manipulations of crops providing biofortified or safer food have been done, the acceptance of biotechnology crops still remains limited. We report on a transgenic barley expressing the multi-functional protein osmotin that improves plant defense under stress conditions. METHODS: An Agrobacterium-mediated technique was used to transform immature embryos of the spring barley cultivar Golden Promise. Transgenic barley plants of the T0 and T1 generation were evaluated by molecular methods. Transgenic barley tolerance to stress was determined by chlorophyll, total protein, malondialdehyde and ascorbate peroxidase content. Methanol extracts of i) Fusarium oxysporum infected or ii) salt-stressed plants, were characterized by their acute toxicity effect on human dermal fibroblasts (HDF), genotoxicity and affection of biodiversity interactions, which was tested through monitoring barley natural virus pathogen-host interactions-the BYDV and WDV viruses transmitted to the plants by aphids and leafhoppers. RESULTS: Transgenic plants maintained the same level of chlorophyll and protein, which significantly declined in wild-type barley under the same stressful conditions. Salt stress evoked higher ascorbate peroxidase level and correspondingly less malondialdehyde. Osmotin expressing barley extracts exhibited a lower cytotoxicity effect of statistical significance than that of wild-type plants under both types of stress tested on human dermal fibroblasts. Extract of Fusarium oxysporum infected transgenic barley was not able to damage DNA in the Comet assay, which is in opposite to control plants. Moreover, this particular barley did not affect the local biodiversity. CONCLUSION: Our findings provide a new perspective that could help to evaluate the safety of products from genetically modified crops.

• MeSH
• Food Safety * MeSH
• Adaptation, Biological MeSH
• Ectopic Gene Expression * MeSH
• Stress, Physiological genetics   MeSH
• Plants, Genetically Modified MeSH
• Host-Pathogen Interactions genetics   MeSH
• Hordeum genetics   MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Recombinant Proteins * MeSH
• Plant Proteins genetics   MeSH
• Nicotiana genetics   MeSH
• Check Tag
• Humans MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Recombinant Proteins * MeSH
• Plant Proteins MeSH