Chitin and chitosan are naturally-occurring compounds that have potential in agriculture with regard to controlling plant diseases. These molecules were shown to display toxicity and inhibit fungal growth and development. They were reported to be active against viruses, bacteria and other pests. Fragments from chitin and chitosan are known to have eliciting activities leading to a variety of defense responses in host plants in response to microbial infections, including the accumulation of phytoalexins, pathogen-related (PR) proteins and proteinase inhibitors, lignin synthesis, and callose formation. Based on these and other proprieties that help strengthen host plant defenses, interest has been growing in using them in agricultural systems to reduce the negative impact of diseases on yield and quality of crops. This review recapitulates the properties and uses of chitin, chitosan, and their derivatives, and will focus on their applications and mechanisms of action during plant-pathogen interactions.

Verticillium wilt, caused by Verticillium dahliae Kleb., is a serious potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) disease worldwide, and biocontrol represents a promising eco-friendly strategy to reduce its impact. We used extracts from Canada milk vetch (CMV) and a set of four V. dahliae-antagonistic bacterial strains to coat potato seeds at planting and examined the degree of protection provided against V. dahliae as well as accumulation of soluble phenolics as markers for induced resistance. All tested treatments were effective in reducing disease severity, and CMV showed the highest level of protection. In this treatment, flavonol-glycoside rutin was a highly abundant compound induced in potato tissues, with levels two to three times higher than those detected in noninoculated controls and V. dahliae-inoculated plants. We investigated dose-dependent effects of rutin on V. dahliae growth and sporulation in vitro and in planta. The effect of rutin on mycelial growth was inconsistent between disk assay and amended medium experiments. On the other hand, significant reduction of V. dahliae sporulation in vitro was consistently observed starting at 300 and 100 μM for isolates Vd-9 and Vd-21, respectively. We successfully detected 2-protocatechuoylphloroglucinolcarboxylic acid (2-PCPGCA) using ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry, indicating that V. dahliae dioxygenally oxidizes quercetin. Quercetin, as an aglycone, is freed from the sugar moiety by glucosidases and rhamnosidases produced by the fungus and is a substrate for quercetinases. The occurrence of quercetinases in V. dahliae provides a background to formulate a hypothesis about how by-product 2-PCPGCA may be interfering with potato defenses.

No abstract

No abstract

Defence responses were investigated in two potato cultivars with different levels of resistance to late blight, Russet Burbank (susceptible) and Kennebec (moderately resistant), after inoculation with single isolates representing Phytophthora infestans genotypes US-1 (previously predominant, mildly aggressive) and US-8 (currently predominant, highly aggressive). The accumulation of brown lignin-like materials and an increase in the cell wall affinity to trypan blue 24 h after inoculation were observed in cv. Kennebec inoculated with US-1, but not in Kennebec inoculated with US-8, or cv. Russet Burbank inoculated with either US-1 or US-8. The expression of PAL-1, HMG-2, PR-1 and PR-5 was investigated in three leaf strata (local, proximal and distal) and at different times after inoculation, using SYBR real-time RT-PCR. The activation of these defence-related genes was affected not only by P. infestans genotype, but also by the potato cultivar and the proximity to the inoculation site. These genes were up-regulated earlier in Kennebec than in Russet Burbank and in response to US-1 than to US-8. Over all, the earliest and strongest up-regulation of these genes occurred in Kennebec inoculated with US-1. Furthermore, PAL-1 and HMG-2 were down-regulated at the site of infection while such downregulation was not observed for PR-1 or PR-5 . In parallel, the accumulation level and location of phenolics and rishitin matched those of PAL-1 and HMG-2 transcripts, respectively. These results strongly suggest that changes in either the activation or suppression of defence responses by the pathogen shape the level of susceptibility of potato cultivars to late blight.