Functional and applied study of the rap2.2 transcriptional factor and rps5 resistance gene in tolerance to phytopathogen Xylella fastidiosa

• Grant number: 13/26944-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: September 01, 2014
• End date: May 31, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Plant Health
• Agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: Alessandra Alves de Souza
• Grantee: Willian Eduardo Lino Pereira
• Host Institution: Instituto Agronômico (IAC). Agência Paulista de Tecnologia dos Agronegócios (APTA). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The Brazilian citrus agribusiness accounts for an annual turnover of 1.5 billion dollars, with exports of concentrated juice and orange byproducts (pectin, oil, food). However, factors such as the presence of agricultural pests and diseases that prevent Brazilian productivity are higher. Among these diseases, citrus variegated chlorosis (CVC), caused by the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa, causes damage of approximately $ 100 million per year to the citrus agribusiness. All sweet orange varieties are strongly affected by the disease decreasing the production of concentrated juice, main export product related to citrus. It is known that plant breeding programs aiming to produce resistant plants are of fundamental importance, but still represent a challenge since the citrus industry expands supported by a very low genetic variability and the inability to track the progress of pests and diseases in the same growth rate of the culture. The use of genes with desired traits of other organisms could help in the emergence of new characteristics in the transformed organism, such as, resistance to pathogens. This characteristic can be acquired using genes from resistant plants. Because of the previous identification of genes possibly associated with resistance of C. reticulata to X. fastidiosa, it becomes necessary to validate the function of these genes, therefore, the idea of the proposal is to use model plants for functional analysis of genes of C. reticulata associated with resistance to X. fastidiosa. At work master's student Willian Pereira was found that the gene rap2.2 and rps5 homologues of C. reticulata are potential candidates to confer resistance in both hosts (C. reticulata and A. thaliana). Thus, studies to identify components of the transcription machinery associated with the rap2.2 transcription factor, cellular localization of rps5 and overexpression of these genes in Nicotiana tabacum host (susceptible to X. fastidiosa) will give us greater benefits of understanding the biological functions of these genes in the mechanism of resistance / tolerance to X. fastidiosa and plant-pathogen interaction. (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, WILLIAN; TAKITA, MARCO; MELOTTO, MAELI; DE SOUZA, ALESSANDRA. Citrus reticulata CrRAP2.2 Transcriptional Factor Shares Similar Functions to the Arabidopsis Homolog and Increases Resistance to Xylella fastidiosa. MOLECULAR PLANT-MICROBE INTERACTIONS, v. 33, n. 3, p. 519-527, MAR 2020. (13/26944-5, 13/10957-0)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

PEREIRA, Willian Eduardo Lino. Functional and applied study of the RAP2.2 and RPS5 genes in the Xylella fastidiosa resistance. 2019. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Biologia Campinas, SP.