Long-Lasting priming state induced by Trichoderma in maize plants

RECH, G; AGOSTINI, RB.; VARGAS, WA.; RIUS, SP.; CAMPOS BERMUDEZ, VA.; POSTIGO, A

Montreal

Congreso; Plant Biology 2018; 2018

In the present study, we assessed the systemic defense response of Zea mays plants induced by the beneficial fungus Trichoderma atroviride against the ear rotting pathogen Fusarium verticillioides by transcriptional profiling. Differential expression analysis showed that Trichoderma root colonization is not associated with major detectable transcriptomic changes in silks. However, Trichoderma inoculated plants challenged with the fungal pathogen showed quantitative differences in gene expression compared to that of plants either only infected with the pathogen or only inoculated with Trichoderma. These primed genes belong to several functional categories: transport and signaling, amino acid and protein metabolism and stress response. However, we also detected several genes involved in hormone metabolism, so we tried to correlate them with silks hormone levels.Our findings proved the long-lasting priming of plant defenses (by this beneficial fungus) in very distant tissues of an agronomically relevant crop, and salicylic acid as a main player of the regulatory network against F. verticillioides attack.