Plant interactions with microbial biocontrol agents are used as experimental models to understand resistance-related molecular adaptations of plants. In a hydroponic three-way interaction study, a novel
Trichoderma harzianum ETS 323 mediated mechanism was found to induce resistance to
Rhizoctonia solani infection in
Brassica oleracea var.
capitata plantlets. The
R. solani challenge on leaves initiate an increase in lipoxygenase activity and associated hypersensitive tissue damage with characteristic 鈥減rogrammed cell death鈥?that facilitate the infection. However,
B. oleracea plantlets whose roots were briefly (6 h) colonized by
T. harzianum ETS 323 developed resistance to
R. solani infection through a significant reduction of the host hypersensitive tissue damage. The resistance developed in the distal leaf tissue was associated with the expression of a H
2O
2-inducible glutathione S-transferase (BoGST), which scavenges cytotoxic reactive electrophiles, and of a deoxycytidine deaminase (BoDCD), which modulates the host molecular expression and potentially neutralizes the DNA adducts and maintains DNA integrity. The cDNAs of
BoGST and
BoDCD were cloned and sequenced; their expressions were verified by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction analysis and were found to be transcriptionally activated during the three-way interaction.
Keywords:
Three-way interaction; deoxycytidine deaminase; glutathione S-transferase; hypersensitive response; lipoxygenase; Trichoderma; Rhizoctonia solani