Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2012, 13(2), 2301-2313; doi:10.3390/ijms13022301
Expression Patterns of Genes Involved in the Defense and Stress Response of Spiroplasma citri Infected Madagascar Periwinkle Catharanthus roseus
1
Institute of Tropical Agriculture, University Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Malaysia
2
Plant Protection Department, Faculty of Agriculture, University Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Malaysia
3
School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Loughborough LE12 5RD, UK
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 26 September 2011 / Revised: 1 January 2012 / Accepted: 9 February 2012 / Published: 21 February 2012
(This article belongs to the Section Molecular Pathology, Diagnostics, and Therapeutics)
Abstract
Madagascar periwinkle is an ornamental and a medicinal plant, and is also an indicator plant that is highly susceptible to phytoplasma and spiroplasma infections from different crops. Periwinkle lethal yellows, caused by Spiroplasma citri, is one of the most devastating diseases of periwinkle. The response of plants to S. citri infection is very little known at the transcriptome level. In this study, quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) was used to investigate the expression levels of four selected genes involved in defense and stress responses in naturally and experimentally Spiroplasma citri infected periwinkles. Strictosidine β-glucosidase involved in terpenoid indole alkaloids (TIAs) biosynthesis pathway showed significant upregulation in experimentally and naturally infected periwinkles. The transcript level of extensin increased in leaves of periwinkles experimentally infected by S. citri in comparison to healthy ones. A similar level of heat shock protein 90 and metallothionein expression was observed in healthy, naturally and experimentally spiroplasma-diseased periwinkles. Overexpression of Strictosidine β-glucosidase demonstrates the potential utility of this gene as a host biomarker to increase the fidelity of S. citri detection and can also be used in breeding programs to develop stable disease-resistance varieties. View Full-TextKeywords:
quantitative Real-time PCR (RT-qPCR); metallothionein; heat shock protein 90; extensin; strictosidine β-glucosidase
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Nejat, N.; Vadamalai, G.; Dickinson, M. Expression Patterns of Genes Involved in the Defense and Stress Response of Spiroplasma citri Infected Madagascar Periwinkle Catharanthus roseus . Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2012, 13, 2301-2313.
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