Abstract
To determine whether light quality affects the incidence of disease, we exposed cucumber (Cucumis sativus L. cv. **yan No. 4) plants at the 4-leaf stage to white and other monochromatic lights and tested the effects on plant response to Sphaerotheca fuliginea, defence-related gene expression and metabolic changes. Exposure to red light resulted in higher levels of H2O2 and salicylic acid (SA), and stronger expression of defence genes such as PR-1 than exposure to white or other monochromatic lights. In comparison, plants grown under purple and blue light had higher activities of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) and polyphenoloxidase (PPO) and higher level of flavonoids than plants grown under other lights. Furthermore, plants grown under red light were more resistant whilst plants grown under other monochromatic lights were less resistant to Sphaerotheca fuliginea than plants grown under white light. These results suggest a role of red light in light-enhanced resistance, which correlates with enhanced SA-dependent signaling pathway.
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Abbreviations
- APX:
-
ascorbate peroxidase
- CAD :
-
cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase
- CAT:
-
catalase
- CS :
-
callose synthase
- G-POD:
-
guaiacol peroxidase
- HR:
-
hypersensitive response
- LED:
-
light emitting diode
- PAL:
-
phenylalanine ammonia-lyase
- PPO:
-
polyphenoloxidase
- PR proteins:
-
pathogenesis-related proteins
- SA:
-
salicylic acid
- SAG:
-
salicylic acid glucosidase
- SAR:
-
systemic acquired resistance
- SOD:
-
superoxide dismutase
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (2009CB119000) and National Key Technology R&D Program of China (2008BADA6B02).
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Wang, H., Jiang, Y.P., Yu, H.J. et al. Light quality affects incidence of powdery mildew, expression of defence-related genes and associated metabolism in cucumber plants. Eur J Plant Pathol 127, 125–135 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10658-009-9577-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10658-009-9577-1