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Title: BETA VULARIS ROOT DEFENSE RESPONSES: ROOT ESTS REGULATED BY THE SUGAR BEET ROOT MAGGOT AND THEIR POTENTIAL ROLE IN INSECT RESISTANCE

Author
item Puthoff, David
item IVIC-HAYMES, SNEZANA - TOWSON UNIV TOWSON MD
item ZUZGA, SABINA - WARSAW POLAND
item Smigocki, Anna

Submitted to: BARC Poster Day
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/29/2006
Publication Date: 3/29/2006
Citation: Puthoff, D.P., Ivic-Haymes, S., Zuzga, S., Smigocki, A.C. 2006. Beta vularis root defense responses: root ests regulated by the sugar beet root maggot and their potential role in insect resistance. BARC Poster Day. p.40.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Sugar beet root maggot, Tetanops myopaeformis von Röder, is the most important insect pest of sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) in the US and Canada. We have identified more than 150 sugar beet root ESTs responding to infestations by the sugar beet root maggot (SBRM) using suppressive subtractive hybridization and RT-PCR confirmation. The largest number of identified ESTs from both a susceptible and a moderately resistant sugar beet genotype grouped into the defense and stress response classes. Additional functional categories of the cloned genes included secondary metabolism and signal transduction. A gene of particular interest coding for a serine protease inhibitor (BvSTI) was identified in a subtractive library of the moderately resistant line F1016. Since we showed that serine proteases comprise the major digestive enzymes in root maggot midguts, our findings suggest that BvSTI may be involved in the resistance mechanism in F1016. Gene expression profiles of the cloned genes were also obtained using macroarrays following mechanical wounding and treatment of roots with methyl jasmonate, salicylic acid and ethylene. Of the examined root ESTs, the greatest number were regulated by methyl jasmonate and salicylic acid suggesting these signaling pathways may be involved in sugar beet root defense responses to the sugar beet root maggot. BvSTI and other selected candidate genes are being fused with root specific promoters in order to decipher their role in SBRM resistance. Identification of these sugar beet root ESTs provides new knowledge in the field of plant root defense responses and will lead to the development of novel control strategies for management of the sugar beet root maggot that may be more broadly applicable to other plants and insects.