Identify and characterize the apple immune effectors

IRHS
IRHS
Apple and pear resistance to diseases and pests
Research topics
Identify and characterize the apple immune effectors

Identify and characterize the apple immune effectors

Plant defense responses are made of a succession of molecular events starting fromwith the detection of the invader, followed by the activation of signaling cascades (first at the cellular level, then throughout the entire organism), and finally leading to the production of a molecular cocktail harming the pest . A part of our research activity is focused on the identification of the different ingredients of this cocktail, and on the understanding of their mode of action. The question raised by these studies is: how do these apple immune end-players (effectors) finally work to modify the course of the plant/pest interaction in a way that is beneficial for the plant?

As an example, using combined transcriptomic, metabolic and biochemical approaches, we identified plant-derived molecules belonging to various chemical classes: phenylpropanoïds, terpenoïds and proteins harming either bacteria or aphids. With our entomologist collaborators of the UMR IGEPP, we showed that upon PRI treatment, apple plants produce volatile terpenoïds displaying a repellent effect on the rosy apple aphid. As a result of this VOC (volatile organic compounds) emission, aphids prefer not to settle on the immune-activated plants. We also recently characterized a family of conserved apple genes that is highly up-regulated in immune-activated plants. These glycan-binding proteins (so-called lectins) have the ability to bind specific polysaccharides that are present at the surface of the fire blight bacterium, Erwinia amylovora. Because these lectins can agglutinate bacterial cells, they could be important players of the apple immune effector cocktail by impeding their mobility.

Gaining knowledge on the immune end-players will help further improvement of apple protection strategies and drive genetic selection for naturally more resistance genotypes.

Effecteurs_resistance_Fig1_EN

Associated publications

Warneys, R., Gaucher, M., Robert, P., Aligon, S., Anton, S., Aubourg, S., Barthes, N., Braud, F., Cournol, R., Gadenne, C., Heintz, C., Brisset, M.-N., and Degrave, A. 2018. Acibenzolar-S-Methyl Reprograms Apple Transcriptome Toward Resistance to Rosy Apple Aphid. Front. Plant Sci. 9:1–16

Modification date : 20 December 2023 | Publication date : 06 September 2021 | Redactor : ResPom