Marasmius oreades agglutinin enhances resistance of Arabidopsis against plant-parasitic nematodes and a herbivorous insect.
BACKGROUND
Plant-parasitic nematodes and herbivorous insects have a significant negative impact on global crop production. A successful approach to protect crops from these pests is the in planta expression of nematotoxic or entomotoxic proteins such as crystal proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) or plant lectins. However, the efficacy of this approach is threatened by emergence of resistance in nematode and insect populations to these proteins. To solve this problem, novel nematotoxic and entomotoxic proteins are needed. During the last two decades, several cytoplasmic lectins from mushrooms with nematicidal and insecticidal activity have been characterized. In this study, we tested the potential of Marasmius oreades agglutinin (MOA) to furnish Arabidopsis plants with resistance towards three economically important crop pests: the two plant-parasitic nematodes Heterodera schachtii and Meloidogyne incognita and the herbivorous diamondback moth Plutella xylostella.


RESULTS
The expression of MOA does not affect plant growth under axenic conditions which is an essential parameter in the engineering of genetically modified crops. The transgenic Arabidopsis lines showed nearly complete resistance to H. schachtii, in that the number of female and male nematodes per cm root was reduced by 86-91 % and 43-93 % compared to WT, respectively. M. incognita proved to be less susceptible to the MOA protein in that 18-25 % and 26-35 % less galls and nematode egg masses, respectively, were observed in the transgenic lines. Larvae of the herbivorous P. xylostella foraging on MOA-expression lines showed a lower relative mass gain (22-38 %) and survival rate (15-24 %) than those feeding on WT plants.


CONCLUSIONS
The results of our in planta experiments reveal a robust nematicidal and insecticidal activity of the fungal lectin MOA against important agricultural pests which may be exploited for crop protection.
['Moradi|Aboubakr|A|', 'Austerlitz|Tina|T|', 'Dahlin|Paul|P|', 'Robert|Christelle Am|CA|', 'Maurer|Corina|C|', 'Steinauer|Katja|K|', 'van Doan|Cong|C|', 'Himmighofen|Paul Anton|PA|', 'Wieczorek|Krzysztof|K|', 'Künzler|Markus|M|', 'Mauch|Felix|F|']
D000373:Agglutinins D000818:Animals D017360:Arabidopsis D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant D060434:Herbivory D055433:Marasmius D009036:Moths D009348:Nematoda D010935:Plant Diseases D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified
Marasmius oreades agglutinin Arabidopsis Heterodera schachtii Meloidogyne incognita Plutella xylostella