The Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology (2011) 58, 310-314

Thomas Sundelin, Dan F. Jensen and Mette Lübeck (2011)
Identification of expressed genes during infection of chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa subsp. pekinensis) by Plasmodiophora brassicae
The Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology 58 (4), 310-314
Abstract: Plasmodiophora brassicae is an obligate, biotrophic pathogen causing the club-root disease of crucifers. Despite its importance as a plant pathogen, little is known about P. brassicae at the molecular level as most of its life cycle takes place inside the plant host, and axenic culturing is impossible. Discovery of genes expressed during infection and gene organization are the first steps toward a better understanding of the pathogen-host interaction. Here, suppression subtractive hybridization was used to search for the P. brassicae genes expressed during plant infection. One-hundred and forty ESTs were found of which 49% proved to be P. brassicae genes. Ten novel P. brassicae genes were identified, and the genomic sequences surrounding four of the ESTs were acquired using genome walking. Alignment of the ESTs and the genomic DNA sequences confirmed that P. brassicae genes are intron rich and that the introns are small. These results show that it is possible to discover new P. brassicae genes from a mixed pool of both plant and pathogen cDNA. The results also revealed that some of the P. brassicae genes expressed in Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa subsp. pekinensis) were identical to the genes expressed in the infection of Arabidopsis plants, indicating that these genes play an important role in P. brassicae infection.
(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): Thomas Sundelin, Dan Funck Jensen, Mette Lübeck

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
resistance/tolerance/defence of host
molecular biology - genes

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Plasmodiophora brassicae	Brassica - other species