PR-1 proteins and new receptor like kinases of cacao (Theobroma cacao): gene expression evaluation and search for ligands

• Grant number: 12/07657-2
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: August 01, 2012
• End date: July 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Plant Genetics
• Principal Investigator: Jorge Maurício Costa Mondego
• Grantee: Jorge Maurício Costa Mondego
• Host Institution: Instituto Agronômico (IAC). Agência Paulista de Tecnologia dos Agronegócios (APTA). Secretaria de Agricultura e Abastecimento (São Paulo - Estado). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Andre Luis Berteli Ambrosio ; Carlos Augusto Colombo ; Gonçalo Amarante Guimarães Pereira

Abstract

The cacao (theoborma cacao) is a major perennial crops in Brazil, generating a series of direct and indirect jobs, primarily related to the processing of chocolate. The attack by pathogens is a major cause of loss of productive cacao. In 1989, the southern region of state of Bahia, the largest producing region of the country, suffered from a epidemic of witches' broom disease caused by the fungus basidiomycete Moniliopthora perniciosa, which led to the fall in domestic production. Several efforts have been made in finding solutions to the disease, such as the Witches Broom Genome Project, which seeks understanding of the biochemistry, as well as on the genome and gene expression of the fungus. The publication of the genome of cacao in the past year has generated gene annotation tools that can be used in breeding this species. One of the most extensively studied genes related to plant defense mechanisms encodes the protein known as PR-1 (pathogenesis related protein 1). Despite the lack of information on the enzyme activity and tertiary structure of PR-1 proteins, these proteins are considered as important tools in the mechanisms of host-pathogen interaction. From the annotation of the genome of T. cacao was possible to identify a PR-14 proteins, two of which (TcPR-1f and TcPR-1g) have a C-terminal expansion similarity with the kinase indicating that these proteins were kinase receptors of the type (known as RLKs). The objective of this project is to analyze gene expression and function of PR-1 proteins of cacao. The expression profiles of PR-1 genes of cacao will be evaluated during the progression of witches' broom and in different organs and developmental stages of cacao. Also there will be a search for extracellular ligands through the technique of semi interaction in vivo, using recombinantly expressed protein and extracellular extracts, in case the apoplast of plants infected with M.perniciosa. Moreover, we will seek intracellular interactions of TcPR-1f and TcPR-1g using the technique of two-hybrid interaction in yeast. (AU)

Scientific publications

(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)

PEREIRA LIMA TEIXEIRA, PAULO JOSE; LACERDA COSTA, GUSTAVO GILSON; FIORIN, GABRIEL LORENCINI; GUIMARAES PEREIRA, GONCALO AMARANTE; COSTA MONDEGO, JORGE MAURICIO. Novel receptor-like kinases in cacao contain PR-1 extracellular domains. MOLECULAR PLANT PATHOLOGY, v. 14, n. 6, p. 602-609, AUG 2013. (12/07657-2, 09/50119-9)

TOSARINI, THALITA RAVAZO; RAMOS, PRISCILA ZONZINI; PROFETA, GERSON SOUZA; BARONI, RENATA MORO; MASSIRER, KATLIN B.; COUNAGO, RAFAEL M.; MONDEGO, JORGE M. C.. Cloning, expression and purification of kinase domains of cacao PR-1 receptor-like kinases. Protein Expression and Purification, v. 146, p. 78-84, JUN 2018. (13/50724-5, 12/07657-2)

DARWICHE, RABIH; EL ATAB, OLA; BARONI, RENATA M.; TEIXEIRA, PAULO J. P. L.; MONDEGO, JORGE M. C.; PEREIRA, GONCALO A. G.; SCHNEITER, ROGER. Plant pathogenesis-related proteins of the cacao fungal pathogen Moniliophthora perniciosa differ in their lipid-binding specificities. Journal of Biological Chemistry, v. 292, n. 50, p. 20558-20569, DEC 15 2017. (10/51884-8, 12/07657-2, 09/50119-9)