Abstract
Botrytis cinerea is a necrotrophic pathogen that causes grey mold in many plant species, including crops and model plants of angiosperms. B. cinerea also infects and colonizes the bryophyte Physcomitrium patens (previously Physcomitrella patens), which perceives the pathogen and activates defense mechanisms. However, these defenses are not sufficient to stop fungal invasion, leading finally to plant decay. To gain more insights into B. cinerea infection and virulence strategies displayed during moss colonization, we performed genome wide transcriptional profiling of B. cinerea during different infection stages. We show that, in total, 1015 B. cinerea genes were differentially expressed in moss tissues. Expression patterns of upregulated genes and gene ontology enrichment analysis revealed that infection of P. patens tissues by B. cinerea depends on reactive oxygen species generation and detoxification, transporter activities, plant cell wall degradation and modification, toxin production and probable plant defense evasion by effector proteins. Moreover, a comparison with available RNAseq data during angiosperm infection, including Arabidopsis thaliana, Solanum lycopersicum and Lactuca sativa, suggests that B. cinerea has virulence and infection functions used in all hosts, while others are more specific to P. patens or angiosperms.
Highlights
Botrytis cinerea is a necrotrophic fungus that causes grey mold and infects more than 1000 plant species, including model plants and many crops such as tomato, lettuce and berries [1,2,3]
The infection strategies are well described and they rely on several virulence factors, including toxins and plant cell wall degrading enzymes (PCWDEs), necrosissecreted proteins, transporter proteins and enzymes that protect the fungus from oxidative stress [10]
P. patens consists of juvenile proto-nemal filaments that further develop into leafy gametophores with rhizoids [44]
Summary
Botrytis cinerea is a necrotrophic fungus that causes grey mold and infects more than 1000 plant species, including model plants and many crops such as tomato, lettuce and berries [1,2,3]. It is found worldwide causing disease in fruits, flowers and leaves, leading to pre- and post-harvest crop losses [4,5,6]. B. cinerea is considered the second most important plant-pathogenic fungus, based on scientific and economic significance [2], and it is an extensively studied plant pathogen This fungus mainly enters the plant via direct penetration or through natural openings or wounds [7]. B. cinerea produces oxalic acid leading to acidification of the plant tissue [19], and mutants unable to produce this metabolite do not colonize the host tissues [20]
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