Tissue-specific synergistic bio-priming of pepper by two Streptomyces species against Phytophthora capsici

Abstract

Among several studied strains, Streptomyces rochei IT20 and S. vinaceusdrappus SS14 showed a high level of inhibitory effect against Phytophthora capsici, the causal agent of pepper blight. The effect of two mentioned superior antagonists, as single or combination treatments, on suppression of stem and fruit blight diseases and reproductive growth promotion was investigated in pepper. To explore the induced plant defense reactions, ROS generation and transcriptional changes of selected genes in leaf and fruit tissues of the plant were evaluated. The plants exposed to the combination of two species responded differently in terms of H2O2 accumulation and expression ratio of GST gene compared to single treatments upon pathogen inoculation. Besides, the increment of shoot length, flowering, and fruit weight were observed in healthy plants compared to control. Likely, these changes depended on the coordinated relationships between PR1, ACCO genes and transcription factors WRKY40 enhanced after pathogen challenge. Our findings indicate that appropriate tissue of the host plant is required for inducing Streptomyces-based priming and relied on the up-regulation of SUS and differential regulation of ethylene-dependent genes.