Short title: Catechin and Proanthocyanidins are Antifungal Defenses in Poplar

Article title: Flavan-3-ols are an Effective Chemical Defense against Rust 1 infection 2 3 Corresponding author: Almuth Hammerbacher, Department of Zoology and Entomology, 4 Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI), University of Pretoria, Private Bag 5 X20, Hatfield 0028, Pretoria, South Africa, Email: [email protected], Phone: 6 +27 12 460 3934, Fax: +27 12 460 3960 7 8 Research area: Biochemistry and Metabolism 9 10 Short title: Catechin and Proanthocyanidins are Antifungal Defenses in Poplar 11 12 Authors: Chhana Ullah, Sybille B. Unsicker, Christin Fellenberg, C. Peter Constabel, Axel 13 Schmidt, Jonathan Gershenzon, and Almuth Hammerbacher 14 15 Department of Biochemistry, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Hans-Knöll-Straße 8, 16 07745 Jena, Germany; Department of Biology, Centre for Forest Biology, University of 17 Victoria, Victoria, BC V8W 3N5, Canada; Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology, 18 Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa; 19 To whom correspondence should be directed. 20 21 One sentence summary: Black poplar synthesizes flavan-3-ols as anti-fungal defenses against 22 the foliar rust fungus (Melampsora larici-populina). 23 24 Author contributions: CU, SU, JG and AH designed the research. CU performed the 25 experiments and analyzed the data, assisted by AH. AS produced the transgenic black poplar 26 lines. CPC and CF produced the transgenic hybrid aspen lines and conducted inoculation 27 experiment with rust fungus M. aecidiodes. CU, JG and AH wrote the article. All authors read 28 and approved the manuscript. 29 30 Plant Physiology Preview. Published on October 25, 2017, as DOI:10.1104/pp.17.00842