Mycorrhizal fungi induced activation of tomato defense system mitigates Fusarium wilt stress

Abstract

The fungus Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici (FOL) is known to cause vascular wilt on tomato almost over the world. Inoculation of FOL reduced plant growth and increased wilt of tomato. The following study examined the possible role of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) consortium comprising of Rhizophagus intraradices , Funneliformis mosseae and Claroideoglomus etunicatum against FOL in tomato and explored in an inducing plant systemic defense. AMF inoculation reduced the wilt disease within vascular tissue and in vivo production of fusaric acid was observed which may be responsible in reduced wilting. FOL had an antagonistic effect on AMF colonization, reduced the number of spores, arbuscules and vesicles. AMF also inhibited the damage induced by Fusarium wilt through increasing chlorophyll contents along with the activity of phosphate metabolising enzymes (acid and alkaline phosphatases). Moreover, tomato plants with mycorrhizal inoculation showed an increase in the level of antioxidant enzymes including glutathione reductase, catalase, and etc. with an ultimate influence on the elimination of reactive oxygen species. Moreover, rise in phosphatase along with antioxidant enzymatic systems and enhanced photosynthetic performance contributed to induced resistance against FOL in tomato.

Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi and Fertilization Influence Yield, Growth and Root Colonization of Different Tomato Genotype

“…The growth improvement is also probably due to pre-inoculation [77]. The increase in colonization will sustain a better resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses [62,[78][79][80]. However, there are genotypes with low inoculum acceptance rates that correlate with low mycorrhizal potential.…”

Fusaric acid-evoked oxidative stress affects plant defence system by inducing biochemical changes at subcellular level

“…For example, treatment with 100 µM FA reduced APX and CAT activities in tobacco cell suspension culture after 24 h (Jiao et al 2014 ). Similarly, Hashem et al ( 2021 ) infected tomato plants with the FA-producing fungus F. oxysporum and then observed that the activities of the enzymes DHAR and GPX decreased, while the enzymatic activities of SOD and APX increased as a result of the fungal infection. Conversely, higher SOD (after 48 h) and CAT (after 12 and 24 h) activities were significantly increased after FA treatment (2 × 10 −4 M) in cell suspensions of tomato plants (Kuźniak 2001 ).…”

“…ROS accumulation upon FA exposure induces both enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants (Antić et al 2020 ; Dong et al 2014 ). These ROS-scavenging antioxidants include superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), peroxidase (POD), glutathione peroxidase (GPX), glutathione reductase (GR), glutathione S-transferase (GST), dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR), glutathione (GSH), ascorbate (ASC) and phenolic compounds (Sharma et al 2022 ; Hashem et al 2021 ; Gupta et al 2018 ; Sapko et al 2011 ; Foyer and Noctor 2009 ). These antioxidants are responsible for cell protection and defence against toxic levels of overproduced ROS following fungal attacks (Gill and Tuteja 2010 ).…”

Allelopathy and allelobiosis: efficient and economical alternatives in agroecosystems

“…For example, Fusarium oxysporum is the cause of vascular wilt in tomato. Tomato plants inoculated with AMF are less suceptible to wilt (Hashem et al 2021). Parasitism of Trifolium pratense L. by Cuscuta australis R. Br.…”

“…Tomato plants inoculated with AMF are less suceptible to wilt (Hashem et al . 2021). Parasitism of Trifolium pratense L. by Cuscuta australis R. Br.…”