Abstract
The citrus industry is one of the most important agribusiness sectors in Brazil benefiting not only the citrus growers, exporters and consumers, but the society in general with incomes and jobs. However, despite its economic strength, the sector is facing several challenges and production costs have risen annually due mostly to the need of controlling numerous citrus diseases with agrochemicals and pesticides. We have been studying the interaction of citrus plants with the bacterial pathogens Xanthomonas citri and Xylella fastidiosa, the causal agents of "citrus canker" and "citrus variegated chlorosis", respectively. Previously, we identified several sweet orange proteins involved in the recognition of the so called transcriptional-activator like (TAL) effectors from X. citri, and X. fastidiosa proteins required for bacterial growth under low oxygen tension. In addition, we found that the plant hormones auxin and gibberellin are required for initial canker development and that TAL effectors from Xanthomonas aurantifolii pathotype C, a pathogen of the Mexican lime only, appears to function as "Avr" proteins in sweet oranges. In this proposal, we plan to elucidate the function of various X. citri and X. aurantifolii TAL effectors as pathogenicity and/or avirulence factors, and characterize the function of particular ABC transporter systems expected to play a role in pathogen adaptation. Moreover, we plan to elucidate the structure and function of sweet orange proteins implicated in canker development and resistance responses against X. aurantifolii and to generate transgenic citrus plants with increased resistance against bacterial pathogens, particularly X. citri. The proposal will also include an approach to obtain citrus plants resistant to Candidatus liberibacter, the causal agent of "Huanglongbing". (AU)
Scientific publications
(10)
(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)
SHIMO, HUGO MASSAYOSHI;
TERASSI, CAROLINA;
SILVA, CAIO CESAR LIMA;
ZANELLA, JACKELINE DE LIMA;
MERCALDI, GUSTAVO FERNANDO;
ROCCO, SILVANA APARECIDA;
BENEDETTI, CELSO EDUARDO.
Role of the Citrus sinensis RNA deadenylase CsCAF1 in citrus canker resistance.
MOLECULAR PLANT PATHOLOGY,
v. 20,
n. 8,
p. 1105-1118,
AUG 2019.
Web of Science Citations: 1.
SOPRANO, ADRIANA SANTOS;
DE GIUSEPPE, PRISCILA OLIVEIRA;
SHIMO, HUGO MASSAYOSHI;
LIMA, TATIANI BRENELLI;
HELENO BATISTA, FERNANDA APARECIDA;
RIGHETTO, GERMANNA LIMA;
DE CARVALHO PEREIRA, JOSE GERALDO;
GRANATO, DANIELA CAMPOS;
ZIEM NASCIMENTO, ANDREY FABRICIO;
GOZZO, FABIO CESAR;
LOPES DE OLIVEIRA, PAULO SERGIO;
MIGLIORINI FIGUEIRA, ANA CAROLINA;
COSTA SMETANA, JULIANA HELENA;
PAES LEME, ADRIANA FRANCO;
MURAKAMI, MARIO TYAGO;
BENEDETTI, CELSO EDUARDO.
Crystal Structure and Regulation of the Citrus Pol III Repressor MAF1 by Auxin and Phosphorylation.
Structure,
v. 25,
n. 9,
p. 1360+,
SEP 5 2017.
Web of Science Citations: 9.
DOMINGUES, MARIANE NORONHA;
SFORCA, MAURICIO LUIS;
SOPRANO, ADRIANA SANTOS;
LEE, JACK;
CAMPOS BRASIL DE SOUZA, TATIANA DE ARRUDA;
CASSAGO, ALEXANDRE;
PORTUGAL, RODRIGO VILLARES;
DE MATTOS ZERI, ANA CAROLINA;
MURAKAMI, MARIO TYAGO;
SADANANDOM, ARI;
LOPES DE OLIVEIRA, PAULO SERGIO;
BENEDETTI, CELSO EDUARDO.
Structure and Mechanism of Dimer-Monomer Transition of a Plant Poly(A)-Binding Protein upon RNA Interaction: Insights into Its Poly(A) Tail Assembly.
Journal of Molecular Biology,
v. 427,
n. 15,
p. 2491-2506,
JUL 31 2015.
Web of Science Citations: 4.
PEREIRA, ANDRE L. A.;
CARAZZOLLE, MARCELO F.;
ABE, VALERIA Y.;
DE OLIVEIRA, MARIA L. P.;
DOMINGUES, MARIANE N.;
SILVA, JAQUELINE C.;
CERNADAS, RAUL A.;
BENEDETTI, CELSO E.
Identification of putative TAL effector targets of the citrus canker pathogens shows functional convergence underlying disease development and defense response.
BMC Genomics,
v. 15,
FEB 25 2014.
Web of Science Citations: 22.
SOPRANO, ADRIANA SANTOS;
ABE, VALERIA YUKARI;
COSTA SMETANA, JULIANA HELENA;
BENEDETTI, CELSO EDUARDO.
Citrus MAF1, a Repressor of RNA Polymerase III, Binds the Xanthomonas citri Canker Elicitor PthA4 and Suppresses Citrus Canker Development.
Plant Physiology,
v. 163,
n. 1,
p. 232-242,
SEP 2013.
Web of Science Citations: 19.