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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Pathogen Interactions
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1551342
This article is part of the Research Topic Unraveling Pathogen-Plant-Microbiome Interactions in Horticultural Crops Through Omics Approaches View all 14 articles
Exploring the infection strategy of Colletotrichum fructicola in pecan and two effectors Cf-ID1 and Cf-ID2 were characterized by using unique molecular identifier-RNA sequencing technology
Provisionally accepted
Longjiao Hu 1,2,3*
Jiping Xuan 1,2,3
Yang Li 1,2,3 Zhai Min 1,2,3 Guoming Wang 1,2,3
Li-Na Deng 4
Zhenghai Mo 1,2,3- 1 Institute of Botany, Jiangsu Province and Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China
- 2 Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory of Plant Resources Research and Utilization, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China
- 3 Jiangsu Engineering Research Center for the Germplasm Innovation and Utilization of Pecan, Nanjing, China
- 4 School of Marine and Biological Engineering, Yancheng Institute of Technology, Yancheng, Jiangsu Province, China
The anthracnose disease caused by Colletotrichum fructicola has widely occurred for pecan (Carya illinoinensis) in China, seriously affecting its fruit yield and quality. However, the details of infection strategy of C. fructicola remain to be elucidated.In this study, unique molecular identifier-RNA sequencing (UMI RNA-seq) was used to analyze differential expressed genes (DEGs) of C. fructicola and candidate effectors were predicted. Two candidate effectors were identified during the early infection stages of C. fructicola. There were 6822 DEGs at three infection timepoints (6, 24, and 36 h post-inoculation), and these genes involved in spore germination, nutrient uptake, detoxification, secretion of toxic substances (such as effectors and toxins), inhibition of the host's immune response, and protein post-translational modification, which participated in the pathogenic process of C. fructicola. 191 candidate effectors were predicted and their expression trends were divided into five clusters. Two candidate effectors Cf-ID1 and Cf-ID2 were selected for functional validation, and they were demonstrated to trigger cell death and immune response in Nicotiana benthamiana. Cf-ID1 and Cf-ID2 located in both cytoplasm and nucleus and could suppress the infection of C. fructicola by eliciting defense responses in N. benthamiana.This study provided valuable information for in-depth research on the pathogenesis of C. fructicola.
Keywords: Colletotrichum fructicola, Carya illinoinensis, UMI RNA-seq, Effectors, immune response, infection suppression
Received: 25 Dec 2024; Accepted: 21 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Hu, Xuan, Li, Min, Wang, Deng and Mo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Longjiao Hu, Institute of Botany, Jiangsu Province and Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210014, Jiangsu Province, China
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