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Botrytis cinerea activates virulence-related metabolism in the interaction with tolerant green grapes
  • +7
  • Flávio Soares,
  • Diana Pimentel,
  • Alexander Erban,
  • Catarina Neves,
  • Pedro Reis,
  • Marcelo Pereira,
  • Cecilia Rego,
  • Margarida Gama-Carvalho,
  • Joachim Kopka,
  • Fortes Ana Margarida
Flávio Soares
Universidade de Lisboa Instituto de Biossistemas e Ciencias Integrativas

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Diana Pimentel
Universidade de Lisboa Instituto de Biossistemas e Ciencias Integrativas
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Alexander Erban
Max-Planck-Institut fur molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie
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Catarina Neves
Universidade de Lisboa Instituto de Biossistemas e Ciencias Integrativas
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Pedro Reis
Universidade de Lisboa Instituto Superior de Agronomia
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Marcelo Pereira
Universidade de Lisboa Instituto de Biossistemas e Ciencias Integrativas
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Cecilia Rego
Universidade de Lisboa Instituto Superior de Agronomia
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Margarida Gama-Carvalho
Universidade de Lisboa Instituto de Biossistemas e Ciencias Integrativas
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Joachim Kopka
Max-Planck-Institut fur molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie
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Fortes Ana Margarida
Universidade de Lisboa Instituto de Biossistemas e Ciencias Integrativas
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Abstract

Botrytis cinerea is responsible for the gray mold disease, severely affecting Vitis vinifera grapevine and hundreds of other economically important crops. However, many mechanisms of this fruit-pathogen interaction remain unknown. The combined analysis of the transcriptome and metabolome of green fruits infected with B. cinerea from susceptible and tolerant genotypes was never performed in any fleshy fruit, mostly because green fruits are widely accepted to be resistant to this fungus. In this work, peppercorn-sized fruits were infected in the field or mock-treated, and infected berries were collected at green (EL32) stage from a susceptible (Trincadeira) and a tolerant (Syrah) variety. RNAseq and GC-MS data suggested that Syrah exhibited a pre-activated/basal defense relying on specific signaling pathways, hormonal regulation, specifically jasmonate and ethylene metabolism, and linked to phenylpropanoid metabolism. In addition, putative defensive metabolites such as shikimic, ursolic/ oleanolic, and trans-4-hydroxy cinnamic acids, and epigallocatechin were more abundant in Syrah than Trincadeira before infection. On the other hand, Trincadeira underwent relevant metabolic reprogramming upon infection but was unable to contain disease progression. RNA-seq analysis of the fungus in planta revealed an opposite scenario with higher gene expression activity within B. cinerea during infection of the tolerant cultivar and less activity in infected Trincadeira berries. The results suggested an activated virulence state during interaction with the tolerant cultivar without visible disease symptoms. Together, this study brings novel insights related to early infection strategies of B. cinerea and the green berry defense against necrotrophic fungi.