Search

Anthracnose severely occurred on begonia (Begonia semperflorens Link.) nurseries in Gyeongju, Gyeongbuk in July, 2004. More than of begonia seedlings were diseased in the greenhouse surveyed and diseased leaves per plant were in average. Yellowish spots occurred on the leaves of begonia as initial symptoms, and they coalesced irregularly to form large brown pleomorphic lesions. Severely infected leaves were defoliated, resulting in abnormal growth of the entire plant. Colletotrichum sp. was repeatedly isolated from the diseased plants and was identified as Colletotrichum acutatum on the basis of the mycological characteristics on potato dextrose agar and RAPD analysis. Pathogenicity of the fungus was also confirmed by artificial inoculation on healthy plants. The optimum temperature for mycelial growth of C. acutatum was around . The fungus was sensitive to azoxystrobin, bitertanol, diethofencarb-carbendazim, difenoconazole and tebuconazole. This is the first report on the anthracnose of begonia caused by C. acutatum in Korea.

A novel rice (Oryza sativa L.) gene, homologous to Arabidopsis pathogenesis-related NDR1 gene, was cloned from cDNA library prepared from 30 min Magnaporthe grisea -treated rice seedling leaves, and named as OsNDR1. OsNDR1 encoded a 220-aminoacid polypeptide and was highly similar to the Arabidopsis AtNDR1 protein. OsNDR1 is a plasma membrane (PM)-localized protein, and presumes through sequence analysis and protein localization experiment. Overexpression of OsNDR1 promotes the expression of PBZ1 that is essential for the activation of defense/stressrelated gene. The OsNDR1 promoter did not respond significantly to treatments with either SA, PBZ, or ETP. Exogenously applied BTH induces the same set of SAR genes as biological induction, providing further evidence for BTH as a signal. Presumably, BTH is bound by a receptor and the binding triggers a signal transduction cascade that has an ultimate effect on transcription factors that regulate SAR gene expression. Thus OsNDR1 may act as a transducer of pathogen signals and/or interact with the pathogen and is indeed another important step in clarifying the component participating in the defense response pathways in rice.

Severe wilt disease epidemic was found on winter daphnes (Daphne odora Thunb.) cultivated in farmers, nurseries in Suncheon, Jeonnam in 2003. Typical symptoms appeared on the leaves of winter daphne as yellowish wilts and turned brown from the lower leaves on the same plant. Severely infected leaves were defoliated, resulting in blight of stems and eventual death of the entire plant. Black decayed vascular tissues were distinctly observed in a wilted plant. Fusarium sp. was isolated from the diseased plants repeatedly and its pathogenicity was confirmed by artificial inoculation on healthy plants. The fungus was identified as Fusarium oxysporum on the basis of the morphological and cultural characteristics on potato dextrose agar and carnation leaf agar. The optimum temperature for fungal growth was around and the fungal growth was inhibited by metconazole, triflumizole and trifloxystrobin on potato dextrose agar. This is the first report on the wilt disease of winter daphnes caused by F.oxysporum in Korea.

The ascomycete Magnaporthe grisea is a pathogen of rice blast and is known to form specialized infection structures called appressoria for successful infection into host cells. To understand the molecular mechanism underlying infection process, appressorium-related genes were identified through global approaches including EST sequencing, differential hybridization, and suppression subtractive hybridization. EST database was generated on >2,000 cDNA clones randomly selected from appressorium stage cDNA library. Large number of ESTs showed homology to known proteins possibly involved in infection-related cellular development (attachment, germination, appressorium formation, and colonization) of rice blast fungus. The 1051 ESTs showing significant homology to known genes were assigned to 11 functional categories. Differential hybridization and suppression subtractive hybridization were applied to identify genes showing an appressorium stage specific expression pattern. A number of genes were selected as up-regulated during appressorium formation compared with the vegetative growing stage. Clones from various cDNA libraries constructed in different developmental stages were arrayed on slide glass for further expression profiling study. Functional characterization of genes identified from these global approaches may lead to a better understanding of the infection process of this devastating plant disease, and the development of novel ways to protect host plant.

Colletotrichum gloeosporioides forms a specialized infection structure, an appressorium, to infect its host, red pepper. Polyamines (putrescine, spermidine, and spermine) as well as S-adenosyl methionine inhibitor, methylglyoxal-bis-guanyl hydrazone (MGBG), impaired conidial germination and appressorium formation of C. gloeosporioides. Curtailment of cell differentiation by polyamines and MGBG was more evident in conidial germination than in appressorium development. Exogenous addition of calcium restored conidial germination and appressorium formation and expression of calmodulin-encoding gene (CgCaM) inhibited by polyamines. Taken together, proper regulation of intracellular polyamine concentration is indispensable for conidial germination and appressorium formation, and involved in Ca(2+)/calmodulin-dependent signaling pathways of C. gloeosporioides infecting red pepper.