A comprehensive transcriptome atlas for the study of the witches' broom disease of cacao

Author(s)

Paulo José Pereira Lima Teixeira

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: Campinas, SP.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Biologia
• Defense date: 2013-02-26

Examining board members

Gonçalo Amarante Guimarães Pereira; Antonio Vargas de Oliveira Figueira; Celso Eduardo Benedetti; Fabio Papes; Maria Sueli Soares Felipe

• Advisor: Gonçalo Amarante Guimarães Pereira; Jorge Mauricio Costa Mondego

Abstract

Cacao stands out as one of the major perennial crops in the world, being economically relevant as the source of chocolate, a multi-billion dollar product appreciated worldwide. Despite its importance, cacao is seriously affected by several diseases that reduce crop yield and decrease the quality of cocoa beans. Among them, the witches' broom disease (WBD), caused by the basidiomycete Moniliophthora perniciosa, is a major constraint for cacao production in the Americas. Using next generation sequencing technologies, a comprehensive transcriptomic analysis of WBD was performed. We developed a database named "WBD Transcriptome Atlas", which comprises approximately 60 RNA-seq libraries that represent a wide range of developmental stages, growth conditions and stress responses of the fungus, either under in vitro or in planta conditions. The first chapter of this thesis presents a global analysis of the WBD Transcriptome Atlas. This data set has supported a number of specific analyses related to several aspects of WBD, which are presented and detailed in the other chapters of the thesis. Strikingly, a detailed analysis of the biotrophic interaction between M. perniciosa and cacao (Chapter I) revealed the occurrence of intense transcriptional reprogramming and remarkable physiological alterations in infected plants, including the activation of ineffective defense responses and the occurrence of carbon deprivation. Curiously, a premature senescence process is established in infected tissues and appears to be a central event in WBD, possibly triggering the onset of the necrotrophic stage of this plant-pathogen interaction. Additionally, our data also allowed the identification of potential virulence effectors in M. perniciosa, as well as the characterization of the metabolic status of the fungus during cacao infection. A detailed model summarizing the molecular aspects of WBD is presented. Overall, the WBD Transcriptome Atlas represents an important advance in the study of this disease and constitutes a starting point for a number of additional studies. The use of these data in the identification and characterization of potential pathogenicity factors of M. perniciosa (Chapters III, IV and VI) and defense mechanisms of cacao (Chapter V) will also be presented in this thesis (AU)