silicon (si) is considered as one of the beneficial elements for plants that play important roles in plant resistance to stresses. in this experiment, the effects of three levels of silicon (0, 0.85 and 1.7 mm) on the growth and physiological processes of pumpkin were studied in plants inoculated with sphaerotheca fuliginea (250000 conidia ml−1) and non-inoculated plants under hydroponic condit...

Broad-spectrum disease resistance is a highly valuable trait in plant breeding and attracts special attention in research. The Arabidopsis gene locus RESISTANCE TO POWDERY MILDEW 8 (RPW8) contains two adjacent homologous genes, RPW8.1 and RPW8.2, and confers broad-spectrum resistance to powdery mildew. Remarkably, the RPW8.2 protein is specifically localized to the extrahaustorial membrane (EHM...

Pathogenesis-related proteins (PRs) can lead to increased resistance of the whole plant to pathogen attack. Here, we isolate and characterize a PR-4 protein (VpPR4-1) from a wild Chinese grape Vitis pseudoreticulata which shows greatly elevated transcription following powdery mildew infection. Its expression profiles under a number of abiotic stresses were also investigated. Powdery mildew, sal...

Previous work has demonstrated that glycerol-3-phosphate (G3P) and oleic acid (18:1) are two important signal molecules associated with plant resistance to fungi. In this article, we provide evidence that a 3% glycerol spray application 1-2 days before powdery mildew infection and subsequent applications once every 4 days was sufficient to stimulate the plant defense responses without causing a...

Powdery mildew (Oidium heveae Steinm.) is one of the most important leaf diseases in rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis). However, physiological and molecular processes associated with the Hevea-powdery mildew interaction are still unclear. In this study, effects of powdery mildew infection on the mitochondrial and chloroplast functions in rubber tree were comprehensively investigated. Powdery mil...

A common response by plants to fungal attack is deposition of callose, a (1,3)-β-glucan polymer, in the form of cell wall thickenings called papillae, at site of wall penetration. While it has been generally believed that the papillae provide a structural barrier to slow fungal penetration, this idea has been challenged in recent studies of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), where fungal resis...

A common response by plants to fungal attack is deposition of callose, a (1,3)-b-glucan polymer, in the form of cell wall thickenings called papillae, at site of wall penetration. While it has been generally believed that the papillae provide a structural barrier to slow fungal penetration, this idea has been challenged in recent studies of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), where fungal resis...

In agricultural ecosystems, arthropod herbivores and fungal pathogens are likely to colonise the same plant and may therefore affect each other directly or indirectly. The fungus that causes powdery mildew (Blumeria graminis tritici) and cereal aphids are important pests of wheat but interactions between them have seldom been investigated. We studied the effects of powdery mildew of wheat on tw...

Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida L.) is used as an important ornamental tree in North America, Japan, and Europe. Since 1995, epidemics of powdery mildew caused by Erysiphe pulchra (Cooke and Peck) U. Braun & S. Takamatsu (syn. Microsphaera pulchra Cooke and Peck) have impeded production of flowering dogwood throughout much of the eastern United States. The fungus is an obligate parasite and g...

Wheat powdery mildew caused by fungal pathogen Blumeria graminis f.sp. tritici is a destructive wheat disease, occurring in regions with cool and humid climates. In order to investigate the changes in pathogenicity of the disease and to identify the effective genetic source of resistance, a total of 29 wheat genotypes with different resistance major genes (Pm) were studied in two hotspots of Go...