Plants have evolved sophisticated mechanisms to sense and respond to pathogen attacks. Resistance against necrotrophic pathogens generally requires the activation of the jasmonic acid (JA) signaling pathway, whereas the salicylic acid (SA) signaling pathway is mainly activated against biotrophic pathogens. SA can antagonize JA signaling and vice versa. Here, we report that the necrotrophic path...

Tomato spotted wilt caused by thrips-vectored tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) is a very serious problem in peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) production. TSWV and the thrips Frankliniella fusca and Frankliniella occidentalis, which vector the virus, present a difficult and complicated challenge from the perspectives of both epidemiology and disease management. Simply controlling the vector typically...

Soil-based root applications and attenuated bacterial strains were evaluated as means to enhance bacteriophage persistence on plants for bacterial disease control. In addition, the systemic nature of phage applied to tomato roots was also evaluated. Several experiments were conducted applying either single phages or phage mixtures specific for Ralstonia solanacearum, Xanthomonas perforans or X....

The nutritional and antioxidant composition of four tomato Portuguese farmer' varieties widely cultivated in homegardens was determined. The analysed components included macronutrients, individual profiles of sugars and fatty acids by chromatographic techniques, hydrophilic antioxidants such as vitamin C, phenolics, flavonols and anthocyanins, and lipophilic antioxidants such as tocopherols, β-...

The tomato Pti4 gene encodes a transcription factor that was identified on the basis of its specific interaction with the product of the Pto disease resistance gene in a yeast two-hybrid system. We show here that the Pti4 protein specifically binds the GCC-box cis element, which is present in the promoter region of many pathogenesis-related (PR) genes. Expression of the Pti4 gene in tomato leav...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) suppress the transcriptional and post-transcriptional expression of genes in plants. Several miRNA families target genes encoding nucleotide-binding site-leucine-rich repeat (NB-LRR) plant innate immune receptors. The fungus Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici causes vascular wilt disease in tomato. We explored a role for miRNAs in tomato defense against F. oxysporum using ...

A novel transient gene expression system was used to study both the tomato disease resistance gene Pto and a Pto homolog designated Fen. The gene expression system was based on potato virus X (PVX). Tomato plants that were both susceptible to strains of Pseudomonas syringae pv tomato carrying the corresponding avirulence gene avrPto and insensitive to the insecticide fenthion were infected with...

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are small peptides with less than 50 amino acids and are part of the innate immune response in almost all organisms, including bacteria, vertebrates, invertebrates and plants. AMPs are active against a broad-spectrum of pathogens. The inducible expression of AMPs in plants is a promising approach to combat plant pathogens with minimal negative side effects, such as...