title: Defense responses in two ecotypes of Lotus japonicus against non-pathogenic Pseudomonas syringae.
abstract: Lotus japonicus is a model legume broadly used to study many important processes as nitrogen fixing nodule formation and adaptation to salt stress. However, no studies on the defense responses occurring in this species against invading microorganisms have been carried out at the present. Understanding how this model plant protects itself against pathogens will certainly help to develop more tolerant cultivars in economically important Lotus species as well as in other legumes. In order to uncover the most important defense mechanisms activated upon bacterial attack, we explored in this work the main responses occurring in the phenotypically contrasting ecotypes MG-20 and Gifu B-129 of L. japonicus after inoculation with Pseudomonas syringae DC3000 pv. tomato. Our analysis demonstrated that this bacterial strain is unable to cause disease in these accessions, even though the defense mechanisms triggered in these ecotypes might differ. Thus, disease tolerance in MG-20 was characterized by bacterial multiplication, chlorosis and desiccation at the infiltrated tissues. In turn, Gifu B-129 plants did not show any symptom at all and were completely successful in restricting bacterial growth. We performed a microarray based analysis of these responses and determined the regulation of several genes that could play important roles in plant defense. Interestingly, we were also able to identify a set of defense genes with a relative high expression in Gifu B-129 plants under non-stress conditions, what could explain its higher tolerance. The participation of these genes in plant defense is discussed. Our results position the L. japonicus-P. syringae interaction as a interesting model to study defense mechanisms in legume species.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas-Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús/Universidad Nacional de General San Martín-Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (IIB-INTECH/UNSAM-CONICET), Chascomús, Argentina.
authors.forename: Cesar D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Bordenave
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas-Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús/Universidad Nacional de General San Martín-Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (IIB-INTECH/UNSAM-CONICET), Chascomús, Argentina.
authors.forename: Francisco J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Escaray
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas-Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús/Universidad Nacional de General San Martín-Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (IIB-INTECH/UNSAM-CONICET), Chascomús, Argentina.
authors.forename: Ana B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Menendez
authors.affiliation: Unidad Central de Investigación en Medicina-INCLIVA, Universitat de Valencia, Valencia, Spain.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Serna
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Bioquímica y Biología Vegetal-Universitat de Valencia, Valencia, Spain.
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Carrasco
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas-Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús/Universidad Nacional de General San Martín-Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (IIB-INTECH/UNSAM-CONICET), Chascomús, Argentina.
authors.forename: Oscar A
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: Ruiz
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas-Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús/Universidad Nacional de General San Martín-Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (IIB-INTECH/UNSAM-CONICET), Chascomús, Argentina.
authors.forename: Andrés
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gárriz
mesh_terms: D060467:Disease Resistance / Q000276:immunology*; D060146:Ecotype; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / Q000276:immunology*; D000070116:Lotus / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D010935:Plant Diseases; D044224:Pseudomonas syringae / Q000276:immunology*