Unravelling the contribution of the Penicillium expansum PeSte12 transcription factor to virulence during apple fruit infection

Sánchez-Torres, Paloma; Vilanova, Laura; Ballester, Ana-Rosa; López-Pérez, M.; Teixidó i Espasa, Neus; Viñas Almenar, Inmaculada; Usall i Rodié, Josep; González-Candelas, Luis; Torres Sanchis, Rosario

doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fm.2017.08.005

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2018

Author

Sánchez-Torres, Paloma

Vilanova, Laura

Ballester, Ana-Rosa

López-Pérez, M.

Teixidó i Espasa, Neus

Viñas Almenar, Inmaculada

Usall i Rodié, Josep

González-Candelas, Luis

Torres Sanchis, Rosario

Suggested citation

Sánchez-Torres, Paloma; Vilanova, Laura; Ballester, Ana-Rosa; López-Pérez, M.; Teixidó i Espasa, Neus; Viñas Almenar, Inmaculada; ... Torres Sanchis, Rosario. (2018) . Unravelling the contribution of the Penicillium expansum PeSte12 transcription factor to virulence during apple fruit infection. Food Microbiology, 2018, vol. 69, p. 123-135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fm.2017.08.005.

Abstract

Blue mould disease caused by Penicillium expansum infection is one of the most important diseases of pome fruit accounting for important economic losses. In the present study, the PeSte12 transcription factor gene was identified, and deletant mutants were produced by gene replacement. Knockout mutants

showed a significant decrease of virulence during apple fruit infection. Virulence was affected by the maturity stage of the fruit (immature, mature and over-mature), and disease severity was notably reduced when the apples were stored at 0 °C. The ΔPeSte12 mutants resulted defective in asexual reproduction, producing less conidia, but this characteristic did not correlate with differences in microscopic morphology. In addition, the ΔPeSte12 mutants produced higher quantity of hydrogen peroxide than the wild type strain. Gene expression analysis revealed that PeSte12 was induced over time during apple infection compared to axenic growth, particularly from 2 dpi, reinforcing its role in virulence. Analysis of transcriptional abundance of several genes in ΔPeSte12 mutants showed that in most of the evaluated genes, PeSte12 seemed to act as a negative regulator during axenic growth, as most of them exhibited an increasing expression pattern along the time period evaluated. The highest expression values corresponded to detoxification, ATPase activity, protein folding and basic metabolism. Gene expression analysis during apple infection showed that 3 out of 9 analysed genes were up regulated; thus, PeSte12 seemed to exert a positive control to particular type of aldolase. These results demonstrate the PeSte12 transcription factor could play an important role in P. expansum's virulence and asexual reproduction.

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/65954

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fm.2017.08.005

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Food Microbiology, 2018, vol. 69, p. 123-135

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Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as cc-by-nc-nd (c) Elsevier, 2017