Chapter 6 - Spatial transcriptional response of plants induced by compatible pathogens and its potential use in biosensor plants

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Abstract

Crop plants are challenged by several abiotic and biotic stresses. The biotic stresses may be caused by, among others, microorganisms such as fungi, oomycetes, bacteria, and viruses. Therefore, plant agriculture relies on managements strategies like, for instance, applying pesticides, planting resistant cultivars, bio control, and ancillary measures such as crop rotation. Pesticides can be applied prior to pathogen infection (i.e. protective) or post pathogen infection (i.e. curative), yet the latter relies on the timely detection of symptoms, which is often not feasible. In order to increase the visibility of symptoms of diseased crops and to engineer ‘pseudo symptoms’, it is crucial to gain a detailed understanding of the temporal and spatial reactions of the host plant to infections. This chapter summarizes research on the spatial gene expression as a response to pathogen attack in compatible plants. In several cases an early (< 24 h post inoculation) differential gene expression was measured in non-inoculated tissues of partially inoculated plants. The intensity of regulation was reported lower in systemic tissue than in local tissue. Systemically induced genes could be useful for engineering biosensor plants which indicate infection early enough for curative and site-specific pesticide treatments.

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