<strong>VERTICILLIUM</strong> LONGISPORUM INDUCES NEW XYLEMVESSEL FORMATION IN LEAVES DURING AN INFECTION OFARABIDOPSIS THALIANA AND BRASSICA NAPUSM. REUSCHE, V. LIPKA AND T. TEICHMANNAlbrecht-von-Haller-Institut für Pflanzenwissenschaften, Abteilung Zellbiologie der Pflanze, Georg-August- Universität Göttingen, Untere Karspüle 2, 37073 Göttingen, Germany, mreusch@gwdg.de;Volker.Lipka@biologie.uni-goettingen.de, tteichm@gwdg.deVerticillium longisporum is a soil-borne fungal pathogen which causes vasculardisease in oilseed rape and other members of the family Brassicaceae. The fungusenters via the plant root system, invades the xylem vessels and then systemicallycolonizes the hypocotyl and shoot xylem elements. We use GFP and RFP-labeledVerticillium strains to study the infection process in Arabidopsis thaliana. As thefungus proliferates into the leaf vascular bundles, transdifferentiation of mesophyllcells to xylem elements was observed in A. thaliana and Brassica napus. Wecurrently study the role of transcription factors involved in the Verticillium inducedtransdifferentiation.44
THE SUCROSE NON FERMENTING PROTEIN KINASE(SNF1) GENE OF <strong>VERTICILLIUM</strong> DAHLIAE IS INVOLVED INVIRULENCE AND EXPRESSION OF GENES INVOLVED INPLANT CELL WALL DEGRADATIONA. TZIMA 1 , E. J. PAPLOMATAS 1 , P. RAUYAREE 2* AND S. KANG 21Department of Plant Pathology, Agricultural University of Athens, 75 Iera Odos, 11855 Athens,Greece2Department of Plant Pathology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA <strong>16</strong>802, USA* Present address: Biotechnology Research and Development Office, Department of Agriculture,Rangsit-Nakhonnayok Road, Thunyaburi district, Pathumthani, 12110 ThailandThe sucrose non fermenting gene (SNF1) regulates the induction of cataboliterepressedgenes, including cell wall degrading enzymes. To assess its role inpathogenicity of V. dahliae, VdSNF1, the SNF1 ortholog, was disrupted in three V.dahliae races; race 1 of tomato and the defoliating and non-defoliating strains ofcotton. VdSNF1 mutants of the defoliating and the non-defoliating strains did notcause any visible symptoms on cotton plants while mutants of race 1 weresignificantly less virulent on tomato and eggplants. Representative mutants of tomatorace 1 were further characterized for the expression of cell wall degrading enzymes(CWDEs) and growth on different carbon sources. Specific CWDEs were notactivated in the resulting mutants after induction. Growth of the mutants wassignificantly reduced on pectin and galactose, while on glucose, sucrose and xylosethey grew similarly to wild type and ectopic strains. Tomato stem cross sections at thecotyledon level showed reduced xylem vessel colonization by an EGFP transformedrace 1 mutant strain compared with the wild type strain that heavily colonizedvascular bundles and adjacent parenchyma cells. Quantification of fungal biomass inplant tissues by Real-Time PCR, further confirmed reduced colonization ability ofroots, stems and cotyledons by the VdSNF1 mutant. The results of the present studysuggest a role of VdSNF1 in virulence, vascular colonization and production ofhydrolytic enzymes of the soilborne fungus V. dahliae.45