Physiological and Transcriptomic Analysis of ‘ Candidatus Phytoplasma pruni’ Infection in Prunus persica

• Published in: PhytoFrontiers 2023-09, Vol.3 (2), p.323-336
• Main Authors: Wright, Alice A., Molnar, Cody, Shires, Madalyn K., Bishop, Garrett, Harper, Scott J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Candidatus Phytoplasma pruni; Prunus persica; X-disease
• ISSN: 2690-5442; 2690-5442
• DOI: 10.1094/PHYTOFR-08-22-0083-R

‘ Candidatus Phytoplasma pruni’ is the causative agent of X-disease on peach ( Prunus persica) trees. Infected trees exhibit premature yellowing, leaf necrosis causing a shot-hole appearance, limb dieback, and eventual death. How pathogen infection leads to these symptoms is unknown. This study undertook a modern characterization of the disease by assessing the physiological and transcriptomic consequences of phytoplasma infection. Phytoplasma titer was high in the symptomatic tissues and undetected or low in asymptomatic tissues. Symptomatic leaves had a significant decrease in chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, and carotenoids. Transcriptomic analysis showed alterations in genes related to phytohormone synthesis and signaling, circadian rhythms, lignification, and sugar synthesis and transport. Several transcripts that might be related to symptom development were identified. Collectively, these data give a much clearer picture of symptom development in ‘ Ca. P. pruni’-infected P. persica and provide several avenues for further research in determining how ‘ Ca. P. pruni’ interacts with its host to elicit the observed symptoms. [Formula: see text] Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license .