Functional Plant Biology (2017) 44, 443-454

Ghalia Mustafa, Ngan Giang Khong, Benoît Tisserant, Béatrice Randoux, Joël Fontaine, Maryline Magnin-Robert, Philippe Reignault and Anissa Lounès-Hadj Sahraoui (2017)
Defence mechanisms associated with mycorrhiza-induced resistance in wheat against powdery mildew
Functional Plant Biology 44 (4), 443-454
Abstract: To develop a more sustainable agriculture using alternative control strategies, mechanisms involved in the biocontrol ability of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Funneliformis mosseae to protect wheat against the foliar biotrophic pathogen Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici were investigated under controlled conditions. B. graminis infection on wheat leaves was reduced by 78% in mycorrhizal plants compared with non-mycorrhizal ones (control). Wheat roots inoculated with F. mosseae revealed a systemic resistance in leaves to B. graminis, after a 6-week co-culture. Accordingly, this resistance was associated with a significant reduction of B. graminis haustorium formation in epidermal leaf cells of mycorrhizal wheat and an accumulation of phenolic compounds and H₂O₂ at B. graminis penetration sites. Moreover, gene expression analysis demonstrated upregulation of genes encoding for several defence markers, such as peroxidase, phenylalanine ammonia lyase, chitinase 1 and nonexpressor of pathogenesis-related proteins 1 in mycorrhizal wheat only in the absence of the pathogen. This study showed that protection of wheat obtained against B. graminis in response to mycorrhizal inoculation by F. mosseae could be interpreted as a mycorrhiza-induced resistance (MIR). Our findings also suggest that MIR-associated mechanisms impaired the B. graminis development process and corresponded to a systemic elicitation of plant defences rather than a primed state in wheat leaves.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Anissa Lounès-Hadj Sahraoui, Philippe Reignault

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
resistance/tolerance/defence of host
biocontrol - natural enemies
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
general biology - morphology - evolution
molecular biology - genes

---

Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Blumeria graminis	Wheat (Triticum)
Funneliformis mosseae (antagonist)	Blumeria graminis	Wheat (Triticum)