Authors
D Cantu, Ariel Roberto Vicente, LC Greve, FM Dewey, AB Bennett, JM Labavitch, ALT Powell
Publication date
2008/1/22
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Volume
105
Issue
3
Pages
859-864
Publisher
National Academy of Sciences
Description
Fruit ripening is characterized by processes that modify texture and flavor but also by a dramatic increase in susceptibility to necrotrophic pathogens, such as Botrytis cinerea. Disassembly of the major structural polysaccharides of the cell wall (CW) is a significant process associated with ripening and contributes to fruit softening. In tomato, polygalacturonase (PG) and expansin (Exp) are among the CW proteins that cooperatively participate in ripening-associated CW disassembly. To determine whether endogenous CW disassembly influences the ripening-regulated increase in necrotropic pathogen susceptibility, B. cinerea susceptibility was assessed in transgenic fruit with suppressed polygalacturonase (LePG) and expansin (LeExp1) expression. Suppression of either LePG or LeExp1 alone did not reduce susceptibility but simultaneous suppression of both dramatically reduced the susceptibility of ripening fruit to …
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D Cantu, AR Vicente, LC Greve, FM Dewey… - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2008