Differential accumulation of proteins in oil palms affected by fatal yellowing disease

Abstract

There is still no consensus on the true origin of fatal yellowing, one of the most important diseases affecting oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) plantations. This study involved two-dimensional liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (2D-UPLC-MSE) analyses to identify changes in protein profiles of oil palms affected by FY disease. Oil palm roots were sampled from two growing areas. Differential accumulation of proteins was assessed by comparing plants with and without symptoms and between plants at different stages of FY development. Most of the proteins identified with differential accumulation were those related to stress response and energy metabolism. The latter proteins include the enzymes alcohol dehydrogenase and aldehyde dehydrogenase, related to alcohol fermentation, which were identified in plants with and without symptoms. The presence of these enzymes suggests an anaerobic condition before or during FY. Transketolase, isoflavone reductase, cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase, caffeic acid 3-O-methyltransferase, S-adenosylmethionine synthase, aldehyde dehydrogenase and ferritin, among others, were identified as potential marker proteins and could be used to guide selection of FY-tolerant oil palm genotypes or to understand the source of this anomaly. When comparing different stages of FY, we observed high accumulation of alcohol dehydrogenase and other abiotic stress related-proteins at all disease stages. On the other hand, biological stress-related proteins were more accumulated at later stages of the disease. These results suggest that changes in abiotic factors can trigger FY development, creating conditions for the establishment of opportunistic pathogens.

Oil Palm Fatal Yellowing (FY), a Disease with an Elusive Causal Agent

“…The so-called 'omics' techniques (Figure 4) provide new opportunities to study oil palm FY. To get insights on FY possible causal agent, different research groups in Brazil have used metagenomics, metabolomics, and proteomics analysis [20][21][22]. To our knowledge, no work focusing on transcriptomics and FY has been published yet.…”

“…In this context, and based on the hypothesis that the primary stress behind FY was abiotic and present in the soil, proteomics was applied to study this disease [21]. This hypothesis is based on observations regarding symptoms seen in the root system before they appeared in the aerial part [83].…”

“…Nascimento et al [21] carried out a proteomic analysis to compare the protein profiles from symptomatic and asymptomatic oil palm plants, employing the mass spectrometry technique. The study looked for proteins linked to tolerance induction to relate the different areas collected and the distinct stages of the disease, analyzing the roots of symptomatic plants in early, intermediate, and final stages.…”

“…Some studies also looked for possible abiotic causes, with inconclusive results so far [17][18][19]. Recently, techniques such as metabolomics, proteomics, and metagenomics started to be applied to provide insights into the possible FY etiology, initiating a new phase in the process to solve this problem [20][21][22].…”

Detection of Diseases in Oil Palm Plantations in the Brazilian Amazon through Orbital Image

“…Among these phytosanitary limitations, we highlight insects, drill pests (Rhynchophorus palmarum, Linnaeus, 1764;and Eupalamides cyparissias cyparissias Fabricius, 1776), defoliators (Opsiphanes invirae Hubner, 1818), and oil palm diseases, such Fatal Yellowing (FY), red ring disease (Bursaphelenchus cocophilus Cobb, 1919), sudden wilt (Phytomonas staheli McGhee and McGhee, 1979) and vascular wilt (Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. elaedis) (Flood, 2006;Maciel et al, 2015;Assis Costa et al, 2018;Nascimento et al, 2018;Martínez et al, 2019).…”