Chitin and chitosan are naturally-occurring compounds that have potential in agriculture with regard to controlling plant diseases. These molecules were shown to display toxicity and inhibit fungal growth and development. They were reported to be active against viruses, bacteria and other pests. Fragments from chitin and chitosan are known to have eliciting activities leading to a variety of defense responses in host plants in response to microbial infections, including the accumulation of phytoalexins, pathogen-related (PR) proteins and proteinase inhibitors, lignin synthesis, and callose formation. Based on these and other proprieties that help strengthen host plant defenses, interest has been growing in using them in agricultural systems to reduce the negative impact of diseases on yield and quality of crops. This review recapitulates the properties and uses of chitin, chitosan, and their derivatives, and will focus on their applications and mechanisms of action during plant-pathogen interactions.

Plants have evolved sophisticated mechanisms to sense and respond to pathogen attacks. Resistance against necrotrophic pathogens generally requires the activation of the jasmonic acid (JA) signaling pathway, whereas the salicylic acid (SA) signaling pathway is mainly activated against biotrophic pathogens. SA can antagonize JA signaling and vice versa. Here, we report that the necrotrophic pathogen Botrytis cinerea exploits this antagonism as a strategy to cause disease development. We show that B. cinerea produces an exopolysaccharide, which acts as an elicitor of the SA pathway. In turn, the SA pathway antagonizes the JA signaling pathway, thereby allowing the fungus to develop its disease in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). SA-promoted disease development occurs through Nonexpressed Pathogen Related1. We also show that the JA signaling pathway required for tomato resistance against B. cinerea is mediated by the systemin elicitor. These data highlight a new strategy used by B. cinerea to overcome the plant's defense system and to spread within the host.

Verticillium wilt, caused by Verticillium dahliae Kleb., is a serious potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) disease worldwide, and biocontrol represents a promising eco-friendly strategy to reduce its impact. We used extracts from Canada milk vetch (CMV) and a set of four V. dahliae-antagonistic bacterial strains to coat potato seeds at planting and examined the degree of protection provided against V. dahliae as well as accumulation of soluble phenolics as markers for induced resistance. All tested treatments were effective in reducing disease severity, and CMV showed the highest level of protection. In this treatment, flavonol-glycoside rutin was a highly abundant compound induced in potato tissues, with levels two to three times higher than those detected in noninoculated controls and V. dahliae-inoculated plants. We investigated dose-dependent effects of rutin on V. dahliae growth and sporulation in vitro and in planta. The effect of rutin on mycelial growth was inconsistent between disk assay and amended medium experiments. On the other hand, significant reduction of V. dahliae sporulation in vitro was consistently observed starting at 300 and 100 μM for isolates Vd-9 and Vd-21, respectively. We successfully detected 2-protocatechuoylphloroglucinolcarboxylic acid (2-PCPGCA) using ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry, indicating that V. dahliae dioxygenally oxidizes quercetin. Quercetin, as an aglycone, is freed from the sugar moiety by glucosidases and rhamnosidases produced by the fungus and is a substrate for quercetinases. The occurrence of quercetinases in V. dahliae provides a background to formulate a hypothesis about how by-product 2-PCPGCA may be interfering with potato defenses.

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