Farnesol induces apoptosis in the citrus fungal pathogen Penicillium expanum
Liu P, Guo JH, Wang BQ, Yu H, Zhang L and Deng BX
Program and Abstracts, 11th International Citrus Congress (ISC Congress), 26-20 October 2008, Wuhan, China. 333 pages.
2008
บทคัดย่อ
Farnesol induces apoptosis in the citrus fungal pathogen Penicillium expanum
The fungal pathogen Penicillium expansum is the causative agent of the blue mold, one of the major diseases of Citrus fruits. Farnesol secreted by Candida albicans blocks the yeast-to-filamentous growth transition. Meanwhile, farnesol has been reported to induce Aspergillus niger apoptosis. This study demonstrated that farnesol also triggered apoptosis in the citrus pathogenic fungus P. expansum. Exposure of P.expansum hyphae to farnesol produced cellular morphological features characteristic of apoptosis. The detection of DNA strand breaks by TUNEL (terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase-mediated dUTP-FITC nick end labeling) and the exposure of phosphatidylserine on the surface of protoplasts by Annexin V FITC staining gave evidence for a farnesol-induced apoptosis-like mechanism in P. expansum. The produced reactive oxygen species (ROS) by dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (carboxy -H2DCFDA) and the induced hyphal ultrastructure analyzed by transmission electron microscope (TEM) suggested that ROS increased and the disintegration of mitochondria played a major role in the farnesol induced apoptosis. Taken together, our data suggest that farnesol as an antifungal compound effectively induces Citrus pathogen P. expansum apoptosis, which been found in fungal pathogen provided new ideas for the bio-control.