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ARS Home » Plains Area » College Station, Texas » Southern Plains Agricultural Research Center » Crop Germplasm Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #360532
Research Project: Identification of Resistance in Sorghum to Fungal Pathogens and Characterization of Pathogen Population Structure

Location: Crop Germplasm Research

Title: Defense responses against the sorghum anthracnose pathogen in leaf blade and midrib tissue of johnsongrass and sorghum

Author
item AHN, EZEKIEL - Texas A&M University
item Prom, Louis
item ODVODY, GARY - Texas A&M University
item MAGILL, CLINT - Texas A&M University

Submitted to: Physiological and Molecular Plant Pathology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/16/2018
Publication Date: 4/1/2019
Citation: Ahn, E., Prom, L.K., Odvody, G., Magill, C. 2019. Defense responses against the sorghum anthracnose pathogen in leaf blade and midrib tissue of johnsongrass and sorghum. Physiological and Molecular Plant Pathology. 106:81-86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmpp.2018.12.008.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmpp.2018.12.008

Interpretive Summary: Anthracnose is an important fungal disease that infects both sorghum and johnsongrass. Johnsongrass, a weed found around production fields, is genetically similar to sorghum, and therefore may have resistance genes to anthracnose, a fungal disease that can cause significant yield loss on sorghum. Three isolates of the sorghum anthracnose pathogen were inoculated on the leaf blades and midrib of 26 johnsongrass cultivars and two sorghum cultivars. The study showed expression of six defense response related genes. In one sorghum cultivar, BTx623, host resistance gene expression in leaf blades and midribs showed three different patterns. The work is significant because it showed that expression of defense genes in the leaf blades and midribs may be different.

Technical Abstract: For cross infection testing, three isolates of Colletotrichum sublineolum P. Henn, causing sorghum anthracnose, were inoculated on leaf blades and midribs of twenty-six johnsongrass cultivars along with two sorghum cultivars, BTX 623 and SC 748-5 by using an excised leaf method. Various phenotypic host responses were observed using three isolates of C. sublineolum, and some johnsongrass cultivars and BTX 623 showed different responses between the two tissues. Expression of six defense response related genes were measured by using Real-time qRT-PCR. Host resistance gene expression in leaf blades and midribs showed three different patterns in BTX 623 inoculated with a single isolate of C. sublineolum.