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P-111<br />

Cloning <strong>and</strong> functional characterisation of a putative powdery mildew susceptibility gene<br />

in grapevine<br />

A.S. Salami 1 , A. Ebadi 1 , M.R. Naghavi 1 , I. Dry 2 *<br />

1 Faculty of Agriculture <strong>and</strong> Natural Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran; 2 CSIRO Plant<br />

Industry, Waite Campus, Urrbrae, South Australia, Australia<br />

*Corresponding author: ian.dry@csiro.au<br />

Grapevine is highly susceptible to a range of different fungal pathogens including powdery<br />

mildew (Erysiphe necator), which can cause severe reductions in yield <strong>and</strong> quality. As part of<br />

multifaceted approach to improve the genetic resistance of grapevine to powdery mildew, we are<br />

investigating the grapevine pectate lyase-like (PLL) gene family because previous research in<br />

Arabidopsis has demonstrated that a specific member of the AtPLL gene family (PMR6) was<br />

required for powdery mildew susceptibility. Sixteen VvPLLs were predicted to be present in the<br />

grapevine genome. Based on sequence homology, we identified three genes, designated VvPLL1,<br />

VvPLL2 <strong>and</strong> VvPLL3, as potential orthologs of PMR6, <strong>and</strong> the coding regions were amplified<br />

from Vitis vinifera ‘Cabernet sauvignon’. All three VvPLL c<strong>and</strong>idates were found to encode<br />

proteins <strong>with</strong> a C-terminal GPI-anchor, which is a characteristic of PMR6 <strong>and</strong> VvPLL-GFP<br />

fusion constructs confirmed the VvPLL proteins were targeted to the plasma membrane.<br />

Quantitative RT-PCR analysis indicated constitutive expression of VvPLL1, VvPLL2 <strong>and</strong><br />

VvPLL3 in all tissues examined including leaves, roots, flowers <strong>and</strong> berries. In contrast, other<br />

members of the VvPLL gene family such as VvPLL9 <strong>and</strong> VvPLL10 were tissue-specific (floral).<br />

In agreement <strong>with</strong> observations for PMR6, VvPLL1, VvPLL2 <strong>and</strong> VvPLL3 were not significantly<br />

up-regulated by powdery mildew infection. Functional complementation experiments are<br />

currently underway in which the three VvPLL genes have been transformed into the Atpmr6<br />

mutant under the control of either the CaMV 35S or Arabidopsis PMR6 promoter. Our ultimate<br />

aim is to silence these VvPLL genes in grapevine to determine if we can modify susceptibility to<br />

powdery mildew.<br />

191


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