Peach leaf curl disease: study of Taphrina deformans-Prunus persica interaction

SVETAZ LAURA; GOLDY C; VALENTINI G; DAORDEN ME; CERVIGNI, G; MARIA FABIANA DRINCOVICH; LARA, MV

Puerto Varas

Congreso; XII Panamerican Association for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PABMB) Congress; 2013

Taphrina deformans is a very harmful fungus that causes Peach Leaf Curl on peach trees (Prunus persica) in most of the cultivation areas of this fruit species. The disease affects leaves, buds, fruits and flowers. Peach Leaf Curl affects yield and plant longevity. It first appears in spring as reddish areas on developing leaves; these areas become thickened and puckered, causing leaves to curl and severely distort. Affected leaves later turn yellow or brown and usually abscise. Only a few cultivars are considered tolerant. In this work by using a resistant and a susceptible genotype a first approach was conducted to characterize the interaction. On one hand, early stages of infection were studied by using asymptomatic leaves and PCR analysis was used to identify infected and uninfected samples of both genotypes. On the other hand, leaves of the susceptible genotype exhibiting different degrees of the disease were separated in the asymptomatic and symptomatic areas and analyzed. Symptomatic areas, irrespectively of the degree of the disease, displayed lower chlorophyll a and b, carotenoids, anthocyanins and phenolic compounds contents than the asymptomatic areas. The susceptible genotype showed higher levels of carotenoids and phenolics than the resistant. We are currently conducting histological, biochemical and molecular studies, which include 2D-DIGE and metabolic profiling by GC-MS that will help us to reveal the complex interplay of T. deformans with its host plant