Identifying genes involved in resistance to White Pine Blister Rust in Eastern White Pine

2006 | Jason Smith, University of Minnesota

In order to characterize a hypersensitive-like reaction in selected Pinus strobus seedlings to Cronartium ribicola, a proteomic (structure and function of proteins) comparison of needles from resistant and susceptible seedlings was undertaken using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE). The results revealed 19 polypeptides specific to resistant seedlings. Seven of these specific to infected resistant seedlings. There were 13 polypeptides up-regulated (≥3-fold increase) in resistant family P327 in comparison to needle tissue from susceptible and mock-inoculated seedlings. Electrospray ionization liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry was used to sequence 11 proteins from the 2-DE gels. Sequences obtained from electrospray ionization liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry were used for MS-BLAST and Pro-ID database searches allowing identification with a 95 to 99% confidence level. Six proteins were determined to be homologs of proteins with known roles in disease resistance, five were determined to be homologs of members of the leucine-rich repeat (LRR) superfamily, and one was a homolog of heat shock protein 90, a protein that serves as a cofactor for certain LRR proteins. This is the first report of members of the LRR family with functional homologs in Pinus strobus and of a molecular basis for white pine blister rust resistance in Pinus strobus.

Year: 2006

Funding Duration: 1-3 years

Grant Program: John Z Duling

Grant Title: Identifying Genes Involved in Resistance to White Pine Blister Rust in Eastern White Pine

Researcher: Jason Smith

Key words: White Pine Blister Rust; Pinus strobus; resistance; genetic markers;

Peer Reviewed Publications from Grant:

• King, J.N., A.J. David and J.A. Smith. 2010. A review of genetic approaches to the management of blister rust in white pines. Forest Pathology 40: 292-313. View the Publication >
• Burnes, T.A., J.A. Smith, R.A. Blanchette, and J.J. Luby. 2008. Black currant clonal identity and white pine blister rust resistance. HortScience 43: 200-202. View the Publication >
• Smith, J.A., R.A. Blanchette, J.J. Jacobs, L. Higgins, B. A. Witthun, J. H. Gillman and  A. J. David. 2006. Proteomic comparison of needles from blister rust-resistant and susceptible Pinus strobus seedlings reveals up-regulation of putative disease resistance proteins. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions 19: 150-160. View the Publication >

General Audience/Trade Publications: none

Presentations: none

For more information on this project, contact the researcher via TREE Fund at treefund@treefund.org.