Ingenious characterization and assessment of lentil germplasm collection to aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum stress unveils distinct responses

Abstract

Lentil cultivation is often hampered by aphid population outspreads with detrimental impacts to crop development and production, challenging food safety and agriculture sustainability. The pea aphid (Acyrthosiphon pisum) is a significant threat to lentil in the temperate zone rainfed systems. A set of management practices including resilient cultivars and application of insecticides have effectively controlled aphid infestation. However, the plant defense against insect pests is scantily dissected and limited to the individual components including antibiosis, antixenosis and tolerance that constitute a combination of plant stress responses. Utilizing a lentil germplasm collection, we assessed the antixenosis and aphid tolerance mechanisms in association to important morphological parameters. Physiological parameters including relative water content (RWC) measured at 24h and 48h post-aphid infestation revealed genotype-specific responses. The contents of key plant hormones including salicylic acid (SA), jasmonic acid (JA), abscisic acid (ABA) and indoleacetic acid (IAA) implicated in defense signal-transduction pathways were also determined in lentil accessions after aphid herbivory infestation. In parallel, the expression of hallmark defense genes governed by SA- and JA-signaling pathways at 24h and 48h post aphid herbivory revealed significant differentiation patterns among the accessions. An interplay of hormone crosstalk is unveiled that possibly governs defense responses and aphid resistance. Besides the metabolomic profiling of accessions under aphid herbivory indicated the indispensable role of key secondary metabolites accumulation such as flavonoids, alkaloids, phenolics and fatty acids as a front line of plant defense and a potential integration of hormone signaling pathways in metabolome reprogramming. Overall, the study presents a panorama of distinct lentil responses to aphids and a critical view of the molecular mechanisms implicated in lentil insect defense to further our insight and advance crop protection and breeding approaches in a climate changing environment.

The Effect of Phosphorus Fertilization on Transcriptome Expression Profile during Lentil Pod and Seed Development

“…Lentil's transparent and thin seed coat is controlled by a recessive gene (tan) which moderates the tannin precursors that are responsible for seed darkening during cooking and the preservation period [9]. It is worth noting that both findings of our research group [10][11][12][13] and those of other research teams (for a review see Polidoros et al [1]) indicate that the genetic diversity present within and among lentil populations is rich enough to provide material for genetic studies and manipulation of this trait. Phenolic acids, stilbenes and flavonoids such as flavanones, flavones, dihydroflavonols, flavonols, flavan-3-ols, anthocyanidins and proanthocyanidins, also known as condensed tannins, are some of the derivatives of polyphenolic compounds that play an important role in the properties of the seed coat [14].…”

Lentil Landrace Seed Origin and Genotype Affects Rhizosphere Microbiome

“…Sequencing of lentil genotypes in Canada and India also revealed several potentially pathogenic taxa within the rhizosphere microbiome [12,15]. Since no visual symptoms were observed, it is important to decipher whether the presence of the identified pathogens is circumstantial or associated with certain lentil genotypes' ability to suppress the pathogens [59,60].…”

Phenotypic profiling of lentil (Lens culinaris Medikus) accessions enabled identification of promising lines for use in breeding for high yield, early flowering and desirable traits

“…Lentil production is constrained due to both biotic and abiotic stresses (Feleke et al, 2021). Biotic stresses such as fusarium wilt, ascochyta blight, rust, stemphylium blight, anthracnose, botrytis grey mould and white mould are among the common diseases of lentil (Rodda et al, 2017;Rubio Teso et al, 2022;Zafeiriou et al, 2022). In addition to biotic stresses, lentil crop is vulnerable to various abiotic stresses, such as heat stress, terminal drought and poor soil fertility, which pose significant challenges to their cultivation (Priya et al, 2021).…”