Summary Biotrophic pathogens are believed to strategically manipulate sugar transport in host cells to enhance their access to carbohydrates. However, mechanisms of sugar translocation from host cells to biotrophic fungi such as powdery mildew across the plant–haustorium interface remain poorly understood.To investigate this question, systematic subcellular localisation analysis was performed for all the 14 members of the monosaccharide sugar transporter protein (STP) family inArabidopsis thaliana. The best candidate AtSTP8 was further characterised for its transport properties inSaccharomyces cerevisiaeand potential role in powdery mildew infection by gene ablation and overexpression in Arabidopsis.Our results showed that AtSTP8 was mainly localised to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and appeared to be recruited to the host‐derived extrahaustorial membrane (EHM) induced by powdery mildew. Functional complementation assays inS. cerevisiaesuggested that AtSTP8 can transport a broad spectrum of hexose substrates. Moreover, transgenic Arabidopsis plants overexpressingAtSTP8showed increased hexose concentration in leaf tissues and enhanced susceptibility to powdery mildew.Our data suggested that the ER‐localised sugar transporter AtSTP8 may be recruited to the EHM where it may be involved in sugar acquisition by haustoria of powdery mildew from host cells in Arabidopsis.
more »
« less
This content will become publicly available on April 1, 2026
An emerging fungal disease is spreading across the globe and affecting the blueberry industry
Summary Powdery mildew is an economically important disease caused byc. 1000 different fungal species.Erysiphe vacciniiis an emerging powdery mildew species that is impacting the blueberry industry. Once confined to North America,E. vacciniiis now spreading rapidly across major blueberry‐growing regions, including China, Morocco, Mexico, and the USA, threatening millions in losses.This study documents its recent global spread by analyzing both herbarium specimens, some over 150‐yr‐old, and fresh samples collected world‐wide.Our findings were integrated into a ‘living phylogeny’ via T‐BAS to simplify pathogen identification and enable rapid responses to new outbreaks. We identified 50 haplotypes, two primary introductions world‐wide, and revealed a shift from a generalist to a specialist pathogen.This research provides insights into the complexities of host specialization and highlights the need to address this emerging global threat to blueberry production.
more »
« less
- PAR ID:
- 10578835
- Author(s) / Creator(s):
- ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; more »
- Publisher / Repository:
- New Phytologist Foundation
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- New Phytologist
- Volume:
- 246
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 0028-646X
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 103 to 112
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
Summary Calcium‐dependent protein kinases (CDPKs) play vital roles in metabolic regulations and stimuli responses in plants. However, little is known about their function in grapevine.Here, we report thatVpCDPK9andVpCDPK13, two paralogousCDPKsfromVitis pseudoreticulataaccession Baihe‐35‐1, appear to positively regulate powdery mildew resistance. The transcription of them in leaves of ‘Baihe‐35‐1’ were differentially induced upon powdery mildew infection. Overexpression ofVpCDPK9‐YFPorVpCDPK13‐YFPin theV. viniferasusceptible cultivar Thompson Seedless resulted in enhanced resistance to powdery mildew (YFP, yellow fluorescent protein). This might be due to elevation of SA and ethylene production, and excess accumulation of H2O2and callose in penetrated epidermal cells and/or the mesophyll cells underneath.Ectopic expression ofVpCDPK9‐YFPin Arabidopsis resulted in varied degrees of reduced stature, pre‐mature senescence and enhanced powdery mildew resistance. However, these phenotypes were abolished inVpCDPK9‐YFPtransgenic lines impaired in SA signaling (pad4sid2) or ethylene signaling (ein2). Moreover, both of VpCDPK9 and VpCDPK13 were found to interact with and potentially phosphorylate VpMAPK3, VpMAPK6, VpACS1 and VpACS2in vivo(ACS, 1‐aminocyclopropane‐1‐carboxylic acid (ACC) synthase; MAPK, mitogen‐activated protein kinase).These results suggest thatVpCDPK9andVpCDPK13contribute to powdery mildew resistance via positively regulating SA and ethylene signaling in grapevine.more » « less
-
Abstract Increased temperatures associated with urbanization (the “urban heat island” effect) have been shown to impact a wide range of traits across diverse taxa. At the same time, climatic conditions vary at fine spatial scales within habitats due to factors including shade from shrubs, trees, and built structures. Patches of shade may function as microclimate refugia that allow species to occur in habitats where high temperatures and/or exposure to ultraviolet radiation would otherwise be prohibitive. However, the importance of shaded microhabitats for interactions between species across urbanized landscapes remains poorly understood. Weedy plants and their foliar pathogens are a tractable system for studying how multiple scales of climatic variation influence infection prevalence. Powdery mildew pathogens are particularly well suited to this work, as these fungi can be visibly diagnosed on leaf surfaces. We studied the effects of shaded microclimates on rates of powdery mildew infection onPlantagohost species in (1) “pandemic pivot” surveys in which undergraduate students recorded shade and infection status of thousands of plants along road verges in urban and suburban residential neighborhoods, (2) monthly surveys of plant populations in 22 parks along an urbanization gradient, and (3) a manipulative field experiment directly testing the effects of shade on the growth and transmission of powdery mildew. Together, our field survey results show strong positive effects of shade on mildew infection in wildPlantagopopulations across urban, suburban, and rural habitats. Our experiment suggests that this relationship is causal, where microclimate conditions associated with shade promote pathogen growth. Overall, infection prevalence increased with urbanization despite a negative association between urbanization and tree cover at the landscape scale. These findings highlight the importance of taking microclimate heterogeneity into account when establishing links between macroclimate or land use context and prevalence of disease.more » « less
-
Abstract Spray‐induced gene silencing (SIGS) is an emerging tool for crop pest protection. It utilizes exogenously applied double‐stranded RNA to specifically reduce pest target gene expression using endogenous RNA interference machinery. In this study, SIGS methods were developed and optimized for powdery mildew fungi, which are widespread obligate biotrophic fungi that infect agricultural crops, using the known azole‐fungicide targetcytochrome P45051 (CYP51) in theGolovinomyces orontii–Arabidopsis thalianapathosystem. Additional screening resulted in the identification of conserved gene targets and processes important to powdery mildew proliferation:apoptosis‐antagonizing transcription factorin essential cellular metabolism and stress response; lipid catabolism geneslipase a,lipase 1, andacetyl‐CoA oxidasein energy production;and genes involved in manipulation of the plant host via abscisic acid metabolism (9‐cis‐epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase,xanthoxin dehydrogenase, and a putativeabscisic acid G‐protein coupled receptor) and secretion of the effector protein,effector candidate 2. Powdery mildew is the dominant disease impacting grapes and extensive powdery mildew resistance to applied fungicides has been reported. We therefore developed SIGS for theErysiphe necator–Vitis viniferasystem and tested six successful targets identified using theG. orontii–A. thalianasystem. For all targets tested, a similar reduction in powdery mildew disease was observed between systems. This indicates screening of broadly conserved targets in theG. orontii–A. thalianapathosystem identifies targets and processes for the successful control of other powdery mildew fungi. The efficacy of SIGS on powdery mildew fungi makes SIGS an exciting prospect for commercial powdery mildew control.more » « less
-
Abstract Emerging infectious diseases can have devastating effects on host communities, causing population collapse and species extinctions. The timing of novel pathogen arrival into naïve species communities can have consequential effects that shape the trajectory of epidemics through populations. Pathogen introductions are often presumed to occur when hosts are highly mobile. However, spread patterns can be influenced by a multitude of other factors including host body condition and infectiousness.White‐nose syndrome (WNS) is a seasonal emerging infectious disease of bats, which is caused by the fungal pathogenPseudogymnoascus destructans. Within‐site transmission ofP. destructansprimarily occurs over winter; however, the influence of bat mobility and infectiousness on the seasonal timing of pathogen spread to new populations is unknown. We combined data on host population dynamics and pathogen transmission from 22 bat communities to investigate the timing of pathogen arrival and the consequences of varying pathogen arrival times on disease impacts.We found that midwinter arrival of the fungus predominated spread patterns, suggesting that bats were most likely to spreadP.destructanswhen they are highly infectious, but have reduced mobility. In communities whereP. destructanswas detected in early winter, one species suffered higher fungal burdens and experienced more severe declines than at sites where the pathogen was detected later in the winter, suggesting that the timing of pathogen introduction had consequential effects for some bat communities. We also found evidence of source–sink population dynamics over winter, suggesting some movement among sites occurs during hibernation, even though bats at northern latitudes were thought to be fairly immobile during this period. Winter emergence behaviour symptomatic of white‐nose syndrome may further exacerbate these winter bat movements to uninfected areas.Our results suggest that low infectiousness during host migration may have reduced the rate of expansion of this deadly pathogen, and that elevated infectiousness during winter plays a key role in seasonal transmission. Furthermore, our results highlight the importance of both accurate estimation of the timing of pathogen spread and the consequences of varying arrival times to prevent and mitigate the effects of infectious diseases.more » « less