Resistance to Fusarium verticillioides and fumonisin accumulation in maize inbred lines involves an earlier and enhanced expression of lipoxygenase (LOX) genes

Constitutive expression of pathogenesis-related proteins and antioxydant enzyme activities triggers maize resistance towards Fusarium verticillioides

“…6 Four maize genotypes with contrasting phenotypes for resistance to Fusarium ear rot were used in this study: the resistant lines CO441 and CO433 and the susceptible lines CO354 and CO389, as previously reported (Lanubile et al 2010;Maschietto et al 2015;Reid et al 2009). All lines were developed by the Eastern Cereal and Oilseed Research Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (Ottawa, Canada) and were maintained by sibling at the Department of Sustainable Crop Production in Piacenza, Italy.…”

“…The complexity of this pathosystem lies partially in the lifestyle of pathogen, which is both parasite and saprophyte and it can be transmitted from seed to plant as a symptomless intercellular endophyte (Bacon et al 2008;Munkvold, 2003a). The process of F. verticillioides infection and mycotoxin accumulation is influenced by environmental conditions, but also by host resistance and biochemical composition of kernel, including moisture, development stage and lipid composition (Battilani et al 2008;Maschietto et al 2015;Sagaram et al 2006;Woloshuk and Shim, 2013).…”

“…Candidate genes for host resistance towards this pathogen were searched in the last years thanks to the employment of maize mutants (Christensen et al 2013;Gao et al 2007) and genotypes showing contrasting level of resistance (Lanubile et al 2010;2012a and b;Maschietto et al 2015). Both constitutive and induced resistance were proven to be involved in maize kernel defense against F. verticillioides infection, including the expression of PR proteins, 5 lipoxygenases, ribosome-inactivating proteins (RIPs), WRKY and other transcription factors, jasmonate and ethylene signaling-related genes, genes related to primary and secondary metabolism, antioxidant enzyme activities and proteins involved in protein synthesis, folding and stabilization (Bravo et al 2003;Campos-Bermudez et al 2013;Christensen et al 2013;Gao et al 2007;Guo et al 1997;Lanubile et al 2014;Murillo et al 1999;Zila et al 2013;.…”

The Genetics of Leaf Flecking in Maize and Its Relationship to Plant Defense and Disease Resistance

“…The SAdependent defense response pathway induces the phenylpropanoid pathway. The LOX4 candidate gene has been shown to be induced in leaves by JA and also highly up-regulated in resistant maize genotypes upon infection by Fusarium ear rot (Maschietto et al, 2015). Tsip1, an SA-responsive gene, is important for responses to both biotic and abiotic stress.…”

Infection with toxigenic and atoxigenic strains of Aspergillus flavus induces different transcriptional signatures in maize kernels

“…Functional and physiological analyses of lipoxygenases (LOXs) were first addressed to dicots and recent studies aimed to unravel the role of LOX in plant-pathogen crosstalk with the use of maize mutants Christensen et al 2014;Maschietto et al 2015) and fungal mutants (Lanubile et al 2013;Scala et al 2014). In this work the expression levels of three selected 9-LOX genes (Lox3, Lox5 and Lox12), one 13-LOX gene (Lox10), and the plastidial Lox6 gene were analyzed by real-time RT-PCR after treatment with toxigenic and atoxigenic A. flavus pathogens (Figure 4(a)-(e)).…”