Connecting the dots to understand sugarcane smut: systems biology of the sugarcane-Sporisorium scitamineum molecular interaction

• Grant number: 15/07112-4
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Duration: August 01, 2015 - July 31, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Plant Health
• Principal Investigator: Claudia Barros Monteiro Vitorello
• Grantee: Claudia Barros Monteiro Vitorello
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Luis Eduardo Aranha Camargo ; Silvana Aparecida Creste Dias de Souza
• Associated grant(s): 17/09442-7 - Metabolome dynamics of smutted sugarcane reveals mechanisms involved in disease progression and whip emission, PUB.ART

Abstract

Sugarcane is an important crop worldwide due to its distinct capability to store large amounts of sucrose in the stem, consequential supplying more than half of the world`s sugar consumption for centuries. Currently, it is considered the most efficient bioenergy crop for ethanol production. One important factor impairing the increase of sugarcane production is the severity of some diseases affecting the crop. Sporisorium scitamineum, the causal agent of a sugarcane smut disease, is a constant concern among producers and breeders, since the disease has been found at low levels in all cultivated areas. There are three distinct phases during the fungal life cycle: haploid yeast-like sporidia, dikaryotic mycelium and diploid teliospores. To infect the host, a combination of two haploid sporidia belonging to opposite mating-type is necessary to form a dikaryotic infective mycelium in which the two parental nuclei remain independent (heterokaryon). Fungal hyphae differentiate appressorium structures to penetrate plant tissues. Sugarcane infected plants show a profound metabolic modification resulting in the development of a whip-like structure from the stalk apex composed of a mixture of plant and fungal tissues. Within these structures millions of dark teliospores develop as the result of karyogamy and hyphal fragmentation being responsible for disseminating the disease. O objective of this work is to study two distinct stages of the interaction using proteomic and metabolomic approaches associated with previously obtained transcriptomic data. Also, a genomic approach to understand fungal genetics will be used to compare three newly sequences of smut genomes relevant to Brazilian cultures and compare do available sequences in databases. (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)

SCHAKER, PATRICIA D. C.; PALHARES, ALESSANDRA C.; TANIGUTI, LUCAS M.; PETERS, LEILA P.; CRESTE, SILVANA; AITKEN, KAREN S.; VAN SLUYS, MARIE-ANNE; KITAJIMA, JOAO P.; VIEIRA, MARIA L. C.; MONTEIRO-VITORELLO, CLAUDIA B.. RNAseq Transcriptional Profiling following Whip Development in Sugarcane Smut Disease. PLoS One, v. 11, n. 9, SEP 1 2016. (10/05591-9, 15/07112-4, 12/09524-0, 13/25599-2)

PETERS, LEILA P.; CARVALHO, GISELLE; VILHENA, MILCA B.; CRESTE, SILVANA; AZEVEDO, RICARDO A.; MONTEIRO-VITORELLO, CLAUDIA B.. Functional analysis of oxidative burst in sugarcane smut-resistant and -susceptible genotypes. PLANTA, v. 245, n. 4, p. 749-764, APR 2017. (13/15014-7, 09/54676-0, 15/07112-4)

SCHAKER, PATRICIA D. C.; PETERS, LEILA P.; CATALDI, THAIS R.; LABATE, CARLOS A.; CALDANA, CAMILA; MONTEIRO-VITORELLO, CLAUDIA B.. Metabolome Dynamics of Smutted Sugarcane Reveals Mechanisms Involved in Disease Progression and Whip Emission. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE, v. 8, MAY 31 2017. (13/25599-2, 15/07112-4)