title: The AAP gene family for amino acid permeases contributes to development of the cyst nematode Heterodera schachtii in roots of Arabidopsis.
abstract: The beet cyst nematode Heterodera schachtii is able to infect Arabidopsis plants and induce feeding sites in the root. These syncytia are the only source of nutrients for the nematodes throughout their life and are a nutrient sink for the host plant. We have studied here the role of amino acid transporters for nematode development. Arabidopsis contains a large number of different amino acid transporters in several gene families but those of the AAP family were found to be especially expressed in syncytia. Arabidopsis contains 8 AAP genes and they were all strongly expressed in syncytia with the exception of AAP5 and AAP7, which were slightly downregulated. We used promoter::GUS lines and in situ RT-PCR to confirm the expression of several AAP genes and LHT1, a lysine- and histidine-specific amino acid transporter, in syncytia. The strong expression of AAP genes in syncytia indicated that these transporters are important for the transport of amino acids into syncytia and we used T-DNA mutants for several AAP genes to test for their influence on nematode development. We found that mutants of AAP1, AAP2, and AAP8 significantly reduced the number of female nematodes developing on these plants. Our study showed that amino acid transport into syncytia is important for the development of the nematodes.
authors.affiliation: Division of Plant Protection, Department of Crop Sciences, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna. UFT Tulln, Konrad Lorenz Str. 24, 3430 Tulln, Austria. elashry@uni-bonn.de
authors.forename: Abdelnaser
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Elashry
authors.forename: Sakiko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Okumoto
authors.forename: Shahid
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Siddique
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Koch
authors.forename: David P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Kreil
authors.forename: Holger
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bohlmann
mesh_terms: D026905:Amino Acid Transport Systems / Q000235:genetics*; D026923:Amino Acid Transport Systems, Basic / Q000378:metabolism; D000596:Amino Acids / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D017343:Genes, Plant; D005810:Multigene Family; D009154:Mutation; D009348:Nematoda / Q000254:growth & development; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000235:genetics*; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D026905:Amino Acid Transport Systems; D026923:Amino Acid Transport Systems, Basic; D000596:Amino Acids; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; C110638:LHT1 protein, Arabidopsis; C036483:T-DNA
keywords: Amino acid transporter; Arabidopsis; Heterodera schachtii; Roots; Syncytium