Reactive Oxygen Species Play a Role in the Infection of the Necrotrophic Fungi, Rhizoctonia solani in Wheat
R. FOLEY (1), B. Kidd (1), J. Anderson (1), J. Hane (1), K. Singh (2) (1) CSIRO, Australia; (2) CSIRO/UWA, Australia

Rhizoctonia solani is a nectrotrophic fungal pathogen that causes billions of dollars of damage to agriculture worldwide and infects a broad host range including wheat, rice, potato and legumes. In this study we identify wheat genes that are differentially expressed in response to the R. solani isolate, AG8, using microarray technology. A significant number of wheat genes identified in this screen were involved in reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and redox regulation. Use of biochemical approaches shows that the infection corresponds to higher levels of ROS species. Expression of pathogen/ROS related genes from R. solani were also shown to be affected upon wheat infection. We speculate that the interplay between the wheat and R. solani ROS generating proteins may be important for determining the outcome of the wheat/R. solani interaction

Abstract Number: P18-668
Session Type: Poster