title: Antioxidant enzyme activities in maize plants colonized with Piriformospora indica.
abstract: The bioprotection performance of Piriformospora indica against the root parasite Fusarium verticillioides was studied. We found that maize plants first grown with F. verticillioides and at day 10 inoculated with P. indica showed improvements in biomass, and root length and number as compared with plants grown with F. verticillioides alone. To validate our finding that inoculation with P. indica suppresses colonization by F. verticillioides, we performed PCR analyses using P. indica- and F. verticillioides-specific primers. Our results showed that inoculation with P. indica suppresses further colonization by F. verticillioides. We hypothesized that as the colonization by P. indica increases, the presence of/colonization by F. verticillioides decreases. In roots, catalase (CAT), glutathione reductase (GR), glutathione S-transferase (GST) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities were found to be higher in F. verticillioides-colonized plants than in non-colonized plants. Increased activity of antioxidant enzymes minimizes the chances of oxidative burst (excessive production of reactive oxygen species), and therefore F. verticillioides might be protected from the oxidative defence system during colonization. We also observed decreased antioxidant enzyme activities in plants first inoculated with F. verticillioides and at day 10 inoculated with P. indica as compared with plants inoculated with F. verticillioides alone. These decreased antioxidant enzyme activities due to the presence of P. indica help the plant to overcome the disease load of F. verticillioides. We propose that P. indica can be used as a bioprotection agent against the root parasite F. verticillioides.
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Meharuli Road, New Delhi 110067, India.
authors.forename: Manoj
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Meharuli Road, New Delhi 110067, India.
authors.forename: Vikas
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Yadav
authors.affiliation: Plant Molecular Biology Group, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi 110067, India.
authors.forename: Narendra
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tuteja
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Meharuli Road, New Delhi 110067, India.
authors.forename: Atul Kumar
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Johri
mesh_terms: D000898:Antibiosis; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000378:metabolism*; D001487:Basidiomycota / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D002374:Catalase / Q000378:metabolism; D018744:DNA, Plant / Q000378:metabolism; D005670:Fusarium / Q000472:pathogenicity; D005980:Glutathione Reductase / Q000378:metabolism; D005982:Glutathione Transferase / Q000378:metabolism; D018384:Oxidative Stress; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000382:microbiology; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000166:cytology / Q000201:enzymology / Q000382:microbiology; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase / Q000378:metabolism; D003313:Zea mays / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D018744:DNA, Plant; D002374:Catalase; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase; D005980:Glutathione Reductase; D005982:Glutathione Transferase