Proteomic analysis of the Mexican lime tree response to “Candidatus Phytoplasma aurantifolia” infection

Abstract

"Candidatus Phytoplasma aurantifolia" is the causative agent of witches' broom disease in the Mexican lime tree (Citrus aurantifolia L.), and is responsible for major tree losses in Southern Iran and Oman. The pathogen is strictly biotrophic, and, therefore, completely dependent on living host cells for its survival. The molecular basis of compatibility and disease development in this system is poorly understood. We applied a proteomics approach to analyse gene expression in Mexican limes infected with "Ca. Phytoplasma aurantifolia". Leaf samples were collected from healthy and infected plants and were analysed using 2-DE coupled with MS. Among 800 leaf proteins that were detected reproducibly in eight biological replicates of healthy and eight biological replicates of infected plants, 55 showed a significant response to the disease. MS resulted in identification of 39 regulated proteins, which included proteins that were involved in oxidative stress defence, photosynthesis, metabolism, and the stress response. Our results provide the first proteomic view of the molecular basis of the infection process and identify genes that could help inhibit the effects of the pathogen.

Metabolomic analysis reveals the potential metabolites and pathogenesis involved in mulberry yellow dwarf disease

“…When faced with pathogen invasion, the host plant activates a multi-component physical and biochemical response involving radical changes in the expression patterns of genes, proteins and metabolites (Scheel 1998;Somssich & Hahlbrock 1998). The gene and protein expressions in some host plants challenged with phytoplasmas have been investigated by differential methods (Jagoueix-Eveillard et al 2001;Nicolaisen & Horvath 2008;Albertazzi et al 2009;Hren et al 2009a,b;Ji et al 2009;De Luca et al 2011;Taheri et al 2011;Margaria et al 2013). However, the changes in transcriptome or proteome do not always correspond to the alterations in metabolic phenotypes nor tell the complete story (Sumner et al 2003;Allwood et al 2008).…”

Novel aspects of grapevine response to phytoplasma infection investigated by a proteomic and phospho-proteomic approach with data integration into functional networks

“…In particular, proteomic approaches have largely evolved in pursuit of the functional assignment of proteins expressed during phytopathogenic interactions [4]. Despite the great economic importance of phytoplasma diseases, proteomics has only recently been applied to this class of aetiological agents, in mulberry [5,6], grapevine [7] and Mexican lime tree [8]. For grapevine-phytoplasma interactions, the only proteomic analysis so far published studied the response of the cv.…”

Metabolite profiling of Mexican lime (Citrus aurantifolia) leaves during the progression of witches’ broom disease

“…The results indicated that among the 800 detected proteins, 55 proteins showed a significant response to the disease. These proteins are related to those of oxidative stress defence, photosynthesis, metabolism, and the stress response, (Taheri et al, 2011). In another study, shotgun proteomic analysis of the Mexican Lime tree showed that 448 proteins changed significantly in response to phytoplasma infection.…”

“…Proteomic analysis of the Mexican lime tree response to "Ca. P. aurantifolia" infection was done using 2-DE-MS (Taheri et al, 2011). The results indicated that among the 800 detected proteins, 55 proteins showed a significant response to the disease.…”