Phytophthora infestans Sporangia Produced in Artificial Media and Plant Lesions Have Subtly Divergent Transcription Profiles but Equivalent Infection Potential and Aggressiveness

Abstract

Sporangia of the potato late blight agent Phytophthora infestans are often used in studies of pathogen biology and plant responses to infection. Investigations of spore biology can be challenging in oomycetes because their sporangia are physiologically active and change in response to environmental factors and aging. Whether sporangia from artificial media and plant lesions are functionally equivalent has been a topic of debate. To address these issues, we compared the transcriptomes and infection ability of sporangia from rye-sucrose media, potato and tomato leaflets, and potato tubers. Small differences were observed between the mRNA profiles of sporangia from all sources, including variation in genes encoding metabolic enzymes, cell-wall-degrading enzymes, and ABC transporters. Small differences in sporangia age also resulted in variation in the transcriptome. Taking care to use sporangia of similar maturity, we observed that those sourced from media or plant lesions had similar rates of zoospore release and cyst germination. There were also no differences in infection rates or aggressiveness on leaflets, based on single-spore inoculation assays. Such results are discordant with those of a recent publication in this journal. Nevertheless, we conclude that sporangia from plant and media cultures are functionally similar and emphasize the importance of using “best practices” in experiments with sporangia to obtain reliable results.

Devastating intimacy: the cell biology of plant–Phytophthora interactions

“…Infection via other routes such as stomata may not involve infection‐vesicle‐like structures, just hyphal growth (Dale & Irwin, 1991). Successful infection is not initiated by every zoospore or sporangium that encounters a host plant (Leesutthiponchai & Judelson, 2019) and many of the notorious Phytophthora species may be successful by virtue of the production of very large numbers of sporangia and zoospores. Attempted penetrations may be thwarted by the formation of a papilla by the host (Fig.…”

Methods for Fungicide Efficacy Screenings: Multiwell Testing Procedures for the Oomycetes Phytophthora infestans and Pythium ultimum

“…For instance, only a few applied studies on P. infestans reported the use of high-throughput methodologies based on optical density (OD) measurements, using zoospores from axenic culture as the source of inoculum [ 25 , 28 , 34 ]. However, recent studies have pointed out that spores from axenic cultures can exhibit reduced rates of zoospore release and encystment, with a great variation associated with laboratory practices and spore handling [ 12 , 35 ]. For these reasons, the use of sporangia as the source of inoculum is advisable to increase the reproducibility and to avoid possible biases in the initial absorbance measures due to the presence of active swimming of zoospores [ 36 ].…”