Trichoderma mediate early and enhanced lignifications in chickpea during Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceris infection

Abstract

Lignifications in secondary cell walls play a significant role in defense mechanisms of plants against the invading pathogens. In the present study, we investigated Trichoderma strain specific lignifications in chickpea plants pre‐treated with 10 potential Trichoderma strains and subsequently challenged with the wilt pathogen Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceris (Foc). Trichoderma‐induced lignifications in chickpea were observed through histochemical staining and expression of some genes of the lignin biosynthetic pathway. Lignifications were observed in transverse sections of shoots near the soil line through histochemical staining and expression pattern of the target genes was observed in root tissues through semi quantitative RT‐PCR at different time intervals after inoculation of F. oxysporum f. sp. ciceris. Lignin deposition and expression pattern of the target genes were variable in each treatment. Lignifications were enhanced in all 10 Trichoderma strain treated and F. oxysporum f. sp. ciceris challenged chickpea plants. However, four Trichoderma strains viz., T‐42, MV‐41, DFL, and RO, triggered significantly high lignifications compared to the other six strains. Time course studies showed that effective Trichoderma isolates induced lignifications very early compared to the other strains and the process of lignifications nearly completes within 6 days of pathogen challenge. Thus, from the results it can be concluded that effective Trichoderma strains trigger lignifications very early in chickpea under Foc challenge and provide better protection to chickpea plants.

Trichoderma erinaceum Bio-Priming Modulates the WRKYs Defense Programming in Tomato Against the Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici (Fol) Challenged Condition

“…leads into induction and accumulation of the PR proteins at early stages of root colonization (Yedidia et al, 2000). In many studies, it has been demonstrated that treatment of plants with beneficial microbes, particularly Trichoderma , enhances plant resistance against pathogens through ROS generation and lignification (Patel et al, 2017; Meshram et al, 2019).…”

Evaluation of the biocontrol effect of Trichoderma sp. Trs GT2 extracts produced by fermentation processes against Botrytis cinerea Btcr GM3

“…Trichoderma spp. can produce hydrolytic enzymes, which play an important role in antagonism processes (Meshram et al., 2019). When Trichoderma detects a pathogen, it wraps it with its hyphae to subsequently produce cell wall‐degrading enzymes.…”

“…In addition, this endophytic fungus works as a symbiont, favoring plants' development and increasing their resistance to biotic and abiotic stress (Rebolledo‐Prudencio et al., 2020). It can activate the induced systemic resistance response, the accumulation of proteins, the generation of reactive oxygen species, the development of lignifications, and the production of phytoalexins (Meshram et al., 2019). Furthermore, it also contributes to plant growth by modulating phytohormones and solubilizing soil nutrients (Rebolledo‐Prudencio et al., 2020).…”

Sulfur Induces Resistance against Canker Caused by Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidae via Phenolic Components Increase and Morphological Structure Modification in the Kiwifruit Stems

“…It was also found that lignin content and PPO activity were significantly correlated with the control effect of sulfur application on kiwifruit bacterial canker. Defensive-induced lignification is a conserved basic defense mechanism in plant immune response to a variety of pathogens [36,37]. It has been reported that many enzymes are involved in the biosynthesis of lignin [35,38].…”