21039559
not annotated - annotated - LINNAEUS only
Systemic virus-induced gene silencing allows functional characterization of maize genes during biotrophic interaction with Ustilago maydis.
Infection of maize (Zea mays) plants with the corn smut fungus Ustilago maydis leads to the formation of large tumors on the stem, leaves and inflorescences. In this biotrophic interaction, plant defense responses are actively suppressed by the pathogen, and previous transcriptome analyses of infected maize plants showed massive and stage-specific changes in host gene expression during disease progression. To identify maize genes that are functionally involved in the interaction with U. maydis, we adapted a virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) system based on the brome mosaic virus (BMV) for maize. Conditions were established that allowed successful U. maydis infection of BMV-preinfected maize plants. This set-up enabled quantification of VIGS and its impact on U. maydis infection using a quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR)-based readout. In proof-of-principle experiments, an U. maydis-induced terpene synthase was shown to negatively regulate disease development while a protein involved in cell death inhibition was required for full virulence of U. maydis. The results suggest that this system is a versatile tool for the rapid identification of maize genes that determine compatibility with U. maydis.
Ann file
T1 Species 76 81 maize
N1 Reference T1 Taxonomy:4577
T2 Species 123 138 Ustilago maydis
N2 Reference T2 Taxonomy:5270
T3 Species 155 160 maize
N3 Reference T3 Taxonomy:4577
T4 Species 162 170 Zea mays
N4 Reference T4 Taxonomy:4577
T5 Species 188 204 corn smut fungus
T6 Species 205 220 Ustilago maydis
N6 Reference T6 Taxonomy:5270
T7 Species 445 450 maize
N7 Reference T7 Taxonomy:4577
T8 Species 564 569 maize
N8 Reference T8 Taxonomy:4577
T9 Species 631 640 U. maydis
N9 Reference T9 Taxonomy:5270
T10 Species 740 745 maize
N10 Reference T10 Taxonomy:4577
T11 Species 799 808 U. maydis
N11 Reference T11 Taxonomy:5270
T12 Species 913 922 U. maydis
N12 Reference T12 Taxonomy:5270
T13 Species 1031 1040 U. maydis
N13 Reference T13 Taxonomy:5270
T14 Species 1304 1309 maize
N14 Reference T14 Taxonomy:4577
T15 Species 1350 1359 U. maydis
N15 Reference T15 Taxonomy:5270
T16 Species 1204 1213 U. maydis
T17 Species 838 843 maize
N16 Reference T16 Taxonomy:5270 Ustilago maydis
N17 Reference T17 Taxonomy:4577 Zea mays
N5 Reference T5 Taxonomy:5270 Ustilago maydis
#1 AnnotatorNotes T5 TODO check
T18 Species 711 729 brome mosaic virus
N18 Reference T18 Taxonomy:12302 Brome mosaic virus
T19 Species 731 734 BMV
N19 Reference T19 Taxonomy:12302 Brome mosaic virus
T20 Species 822 825 BMV
N20 Reference T20 Taxonomy:12302 Brome mosaic virus