A functional genomics project has been initiated to approach the molecular characterization of the main biological and agronomical traits of citrus. As a key part of this project, a citrus EST collection has been generated from 25 cDNA libraries covering different tissues, developmental stages and stress conditions. The collection includes a total of 22,635 high-quality ESTs, grouped in 11,836 putative unigenes, which represent at least one third of the estimated number of genes in the citrus genome. Functional annotation of unigenes which have Arabidopsis orthologues (68% of all unigenes) revealed gene representation in every major functional category, suggesting that a genome-wide EST collection was obtained. A Citrus clementina Hort. ex Tan. cv. Clemenules genomic library, that will contribute to further characterization of relevant genes, has also been constructed. To initiate the analysis of citrus transcriptome, we have developed a cDNA microarray containing 12,672 probes corresponding to 6875 putative unigenes of the collection. Technical characterization of the microarray showed high intra- and inter-array reproducibility, as well as a good range of sensitivity. We have also validated gene expression data achieved with this microarray through an independent technique such as RNA gel blot analysis.

Antifungal proteins of fungal origin (AFPs) are small, secreted, cationic, and cysteine-rich proteins. Filamentous fungi encode a wide repertoire of AFPs belonging to different phylogenetic classes, which offer a great potential to develop new antifungals for the control of pathogenic fungi. The fungus Penicillium expansum is one of the few reported to encode three AFPs each belonging to a different phylogenetic class (A, B, and C). In this work, the production of the putative AFPs from P. expansum was evaluated, but only the representative of class A, PeAfpA, was identified in culture supernatants of the native fungus. The biotechnological production of PeAfpB and PeAfpC was achieved in Penicillium chrysogenum with the P. chrysogenum-based expression cassette, which had been proved to work efficiently for the production of other related AFPs in filamentous fungi. Western blot analyses confirmed that P. expansum only produces PeAfpA naturally, whereas PeAfpB and PeAfpC could not be detected. From the three AFPs from P. expansum, PeAfpA showed the highest antifungal activity against all fungi tested, including plant and human pathogens. P. expansum was also sensitive to its self-AFPs PeAfpA and PeAfpB. PeAfpB showed moderate antifungal activity against filamentous fungi, whereas no activity could be attributed to PeAfpC at the conditions tested. Importantly, none of the PeAFPs showed hemolytic activity. Finally, PeAfpA was demonstrated to efficiently protect against fungal infections caused by Botrytis cinerea in tomato leaves and Penicillium digitatum in oranges. The strong antifungal potency of PeAfpA, together with the lack of cytotoxicity, and significant in vivo protection against phytopathogenic fungi that cause postharvest decay and plant diseases, make PeAfpA a promising alternative compound for application in agriculture, but also in medicine or food preservation.

Filamentous fungi encode distinct antifungal proteins (AFPs) that offer great potential to develop new antifungals. Fungi are considered immune to their own AFPs as occurs in Penicillium chrysogenum, the producer of the well-known PAF. The Penicillium digitatum genome encodes only one afp gene (afpB), and the corresponding protein (AfpB) belongs to the class B phylogenetic cluster. Previous attempts to detect AfpB were not successful. In this work, immunodetection confirmed the absence of AfpB accumulation in wild type and previous recombinant constitutive P. digitatum strains. Biotechnological production and secretion of AfpB were achieved in P. digitatum with the use of a P. chrysogenum-based expression cassette and in the yeast Pichia pastoris with the α-factor signal peptide. Both strategies allowed proper protein folding, efficient production and single-step purification of AfpB from culture supernatants. AfpB showed antifungal activity higher than the P. chrysogenum PAF against the majority of the fungi tested, especially against Penicillium species and including P. digitatum, which was highly sensitive to the self-AfpB. Spectroscopic data suggest that native folding is not required for activity. AfpB also showed notable ability to withstand protease and thermal degradation and no haemolytic activity, making AfpB a promising candidate for the control of pathogenic fungi.

Antifungal proteins (AFPs) of fungal origin have been described in filamentous fungi. AFPs are small, highly stable, cationic cysteine-rich proteins (CRPs) that are usually secreted in high amounts and show potent antifungal activity against non-self fungi. The role of AFPs in the biology of the producer fungus remains unclear. AFPs have been proposed as promising lead compounds for the development of new antifungals. The analyses of available antifungal CRP sequences from fungal origin and their phylogenetic reconstruction led us to propose a new classification of AFPs in three distinct classes: A, B and C. We initiate for the first time the characterization of an AFP in a fungal pathogen, by analysing the functional role of the unique afpB gene in the citrus fruit pathogen Penicillium digitatum. Null ΔafpB mutants revealed that this gene is dispensable for vegetative growth and fruit infection. However, strains that artificially express afpB in a constitutive way (afpB (C)) showed a phenotype of restricted growth, distortion of hyphal morphology and strong reduction in virulence to citrus fruits. These characteristics support an antifungal role for AfpB. Surprisingly, we did not detect the AfpB protein in any of the P. digitatum strains and growth conditions that were analysed in this study, regardless of high gene expression. The afpB (C) phenotype is not stable and occasionally reverts to a wild type-like phenotype but molecular changes were not detected with this reversion. The reduced virulence of afpB (C) strains correlated with localized fruit necrosis and altered timing of expression of fruit defence genes.

No abstract

No abstract

Changes in gene expression of Mexican lime plants in response to infection with a severe (T305) or a mild (T385) isolate of Citrus tristeza virus (CTV) were analyzed using a cDNA microarray containing 12,672 probes to 6875 different citrus genes. Statistically significant (P<0.01) expression changes of 334 genes were detected in response to infection with isolate T305, whereas infection with T385 induced no significant change. Induced genes included 145 without significant similarity with known sequences and 189 that were classified in seven functional categories. Genes related with response to stress and defense were the main category and included 28% of the genes induced. Selected transcription changes detected by microarray analysis were confirmed by quantitative real-time RT-PCR. Changes detected in the transcriptome upon infecting lime with T305 may be associated either with symptom expression, with a strain-specific defense mechanism, or with a general response to stress.

No abstract