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Abstract
Phytophthora infestans, causal agent of late blight in potato and tomato, remains challenging to control. Unravelling its biomechanics of host invasion, and its response to mechanical and chemical stress, could provide new handles to combat this devastating pathogen. Here we introduce two fluorescent molecular sensors, CWP-BDP and NR12S, that reveal the micromechanical response of the cell wall-plasma membrane continuum in P. infestans during invasive growth and upon chemical treatment. When visualized by live-cell imaging, CWP-BDP reports changes in cell wall (CW) porosity while NR12S reports variations in chemical polarity and lipid order in the plasma membrane (PM). During invasive growth, mechanical interactions between the pathogen and a surface reveal clear and localized changes in the structure of the CW. Moreover, the molecular sensors can reveal the effect of chemical treatment to CW and/or PM, thereby revealing the site-of-action of crop protection agents. This mechano-chemical imaging strategy resolves, non-invasively and with high spatio-temporal resolution, how the CW-PM continuum adapts and responds to abiotic stress, and provides information on the dynamics and location of cellular stress responses for which, to date, no other methods are available.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 100071 |
Journal | The Cell Surface |
Volume | 8 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Dec 2022 |
Keywords
- Cell wall
- Crop protection agents
- Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging
- Mechanobiology
- Molecular mechanosensors
- Phytophthora infestans
- Plant pathogens
- Plasma membrane
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This is how the fungus hurts the spud
Jochem Bronkhorst
29/09/22 → 30/09/22
2 Media contributions
Press/Media: Research › Professional
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