Role of amino acid metabolism and peroxisomal enzymes in disease resistance

The abscisic acid (ABA) deficient sitiens mutant of tomato, is resistant to necrotrophic fungi such as Botrytis cinerea (Audenaert et al., 2002, Plant Physiol. 128: 491-501) and shows a decreased susceptibility towards the biotrophic fungus Oidium neolycopersici (Achuo et al., 2006, Plant pathology 55: 178-186). Through microarray analysis, tomato genes were identified that are differentially induced in wild type and sitiens plants after infection.
This project aims to experimentally verify the contribution of these genes in the pathogen defence response of tomato and Arabidopsis thaliana. The project is a collaboration between the Laboratory of Phytopathology (Ugent) the department Plant Systems Biology (VIB/Ugent) and the laboratory of Plant Genetics (VUB).