Due to the hidden nature of roots in the soils, it is more challenging to investigate their resistance traits and defense responses as compared to those of the aerial organs. At the same time, it is self-evident that ...Due to the hidden nature of roots in the soils, it is more challenging to investigate their resistance traits and defense responses as compared to those of the aerial organs. At the same time, it is self-evident that root health is fundamental to a plant’s entire life and productivity. It is also easily conceivable that root function, physiology, morphology, and architecture are constantly impacted by the complex soil environment including both biotic and abiotic factors. This report summarizes and updates the challenges and progress in evaluating resistance responses of apple root to infection from a necrotrophic oomycete pathogen, Pythium ultimum. Several obstacles impede the progress of investigating apple root resistance traits including the difficulties of direct and real-time evaluation and the lack of a continuous supply of apple plants for repeated infection assays. Systematic and detailed analyses were made possible by implementing a micropropagation procedure for continuously generating uniform apple plants for repeated infection assays. As a result, an elite panel of apple rootstock germplasm with distinct resistance levels was identified. These apple rootstock genotypes with well-defined resistance levels are the much-needed plant materials for subsequent genomics and transgenics analyses to define the functional roles of specific candidate genes. Careful microscopic examination revealed contrasting necrosis progression patterns between resistant and susceptible genotypes, which shed light on the potential mechanisms underlying resistance traits. Our continuing research will provide a clearer view regarding the genetic elements regulating resistance traits in apple roots to P. ultimum infection.展开更多
Three fungicide formulations, namely M1, M2 and M3, were prepared from sodium bicarbonate, citronella essential oil and sunflower slurry. The stability of M1, M2 and M3 formulations was determined based on pH, tempera...Three fungicide formulations, namely M1, M2 and M3, were prepared from sodium bicarbonate, citronella essential oil and sunflower slurry. The stability of M1, M2 and M3 formulations was determined based on pH, temperature, order of incorporation of the inputs and storage time. The most stable formulations were used for antagonistic tests on Pythium myriotylum. The Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) was used for the greenhouse tests and the mode of action was determined in vitro. The study showed that the order of incorporation of the inputs “Essential Oil-Tween 80-Bicarbonate-Slurry” (EO-T80-B-S) promotes stability. M1 and M2 are stable at 4°C, 25°C, 37°C and 40°C temperatures and have a pH of 7 and 8 respectively. The Minimum Inhibitory Concentration of M1 and M2 is 1% on P. myriotylum. M1 and M2 act on Pythium by membrane lysis, inhibiting proton pumps and inhibiting protein synthesis. The formulations M1 and M2 reduce the incidence of root rot disease in cocoyam plants growth in the greenhouse. M1 and M2 are potential candidates for improvement of cocoyam seedlings production in Cameroon.展开更多
In order to understand the compsition and structure of herbicidal component of Pythium aphanidermatum,the isolation and structural indentification were researched.The culture filtrate was extracted by ethyl acetate,pe...In order to understand the compsition and structure of herbicidal component of Pythium aphanidermatum,the isolation and structural indentification were researched.The culture filtrate was extracted by ethyl acetate,petroleum,and chloroform with the same volume respectively and the activity of the crude toxin was bioassayed.The toxin was separated by using the method of thin layer chromatography（TLC）,then the main fraction was separated by HPLC,and the structure was analyzed by the sepctrum of IR,13C-NMR and 1HNMR.The results showed that the ethyl acetate extracts had the strongest herbicidal activity.Using the method of TLC,the bioassay results showed that the extracts with Rf 0.19 had the strongest effect on weeds and the inhibition to Digitaria sanguinalis and Amaranthus retroflexus reached five levels,and the component was proved to be dimethyl o-phthalate from the spectrum of IR,13C-NMR and 1HNMR,which was one of the components from the toxin,and it had herbicidal activity.展开更多
Pyropia yezoensis(formerly Porphyra yezoensis)is an economically important red alga that is cultured extensively in China.The red rot disease occurs commonly during Pyropia cultivation,causing serious economic losses....Pyropia yezoensis(formerly Porphyra yezoensis)is an economically important red alga that is cultured extensively in China.The red rot disease occurs commonly during Pyropia cultivation,causing serious economic losses.An incidence of red rot disease was found in a P.yezoensis farm from mid-November to mid-December 2015 at Lianyungang,Jiangsu Province,China.Histopathological examination revealed that the naturally infected thalli were infected apparently by a pathogen,leading to red rot symptoms.The causative agent was isolated and identified as the oomycete Pythium chondricola by morphological analysis and sequence analysis of the internal transcribed spacer and cytochrome oxidase subunit 1(cox 1).In artifi cial infection experiments on the P.yezoensis blades,the P.chondricola isolate was able to cause the same characteristic histopathology seen in natural infections.P.chondricola grew well at a wide range of temperatures in the range 8-31℃,salinities at 0-45 and pH 5-9.In an orthogonal test used to determine the effects of environmental factors(temperature,salinity,and zoospore concentration)on infection,the data revealed that temperature was the most important factor to affect red rot disease development,with the optimal conditions for disease expansion being 20℃,35 salinity,and a zoospore concentration of 10^6 zoospores/mL.The results obtained from the present study prompted us to set up a comprehensive epidemiological study on Pyropia,which will provide support to maintain the healthy development of the Pyropia industry in China.展开更多
Biocontrol by Trichoderma has been studied mainly with selected isolates of T. harzianum, T. atroviride and T. asperellum, which are members of sections Pachybasium and Trichoderma. In contrast, species from section L...Biocontrol by Trichoderma has been studied mainly with selected isolates of T. harzianum, T. atroviride and T. asperellum, which are members of sections Pachybasium and Trichoderma. In contrast, species from section Longibrachiatum have only rarely been studied. On the other hand, one taxon from this section-Hypocrea jecorina (anamorph: Trichoderma reesei)-has been widely used for the production of cellulolytic and hemicellulolytic enzymes and recombinant proteins. As far as Trichoderma is concerned, molecular genetic methods and tools are most advanced in H. jecorina, and its genome has recently been fully sequenced, thus making this taxon a model organism for the genus. Here we will demonstrate that H. jecorina is able to antagonize plant pathogenic fungi in plate confrontation tests, and can protect tomato and cucumber plants against Pythium ultimum blight. Using this as a model case, we made use of available H. jecorina mutants to investigate (a) whether carbon catabolite repression via the Cre1-regulator protein has an impact on biocontrol, and (b) whether cellulase gene expression is necessary for biocontrol of P. ultimum. In the first case, plate confrontation tests and in planta experiments yielded opposite results, i.e. while a Cre1 mutant was more active in antagonization of fungi on plates, the survival rates of P. ultimum-inoculated cucumber plants was lower than with the H. jecorina wild-type strain. Mutants of H. jecorina, unable to form cellulases, were still able to antagonize fungi on plates and provided similar protection of tomatos against P. ultimum as the wild type, indicating that the pronounced biocontrol ability of H. jecorina against fungi with cellulose-containing cell-walls is not due to its high cellulolytic activity. A strain disrupted in the light-modulator gene envoy (Schmoll et al., ms submitted) exhibited in planta biocontrol activity strongly exceeding that of the wild-type strain, thereby providing a first link between Trichoderma biocontrol and light. In view of the numerous other metabolic and regulatory mutants of H. jecorina available, we suggest that this fungus should increasingly be used in basic studies on the biochemistry and genetics of biocontrol.展开更多
Tomato seedlings damping-off is a limiting factor in commercial greenhouse production. To determine the causal agents of disease, sampling and fungal isolation were performed during 2012. Samples were collected from i...Tomato seedlings damping-off is a limiting factor in commercial greenhouse production. To determine the causal agents of disease, sampling and fungal isolation were performed during 2012. Samples were collected from infected seedlings growing in greenhouses in the Syrian coastal region. Isolation of fungi was done in the laboratories of the Agronomical Reaserch Center, in Lattakia and the molecular analyses were done in the Biotechnology Center at Tishreen University, Lattakia, Syria, during the years 2012, 2013. Eight isolates ofPythium sp. obtained were purified using hyphal tip method （named P1, P2, P3, P4, P5, P6, P7 and P8）. Isolates were morphologically identified by optical microscope, then molecularly Characterized using genus specific ITS primers. The results of morphological characterization of pathogenic species suggested the detection of Pythium aphanidermatum, P. ultimum. The analysis of DNAs from the different isolates with ITS primers, recognizing the inter transcript spacer of nuclear ribosomal DNA proved that the eight, isolates were belonging to the species P. ultimum. The complete sequences of ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacers regions of selected isolates were determined and submitted to GenBank. The GenBank-BLAST homology search revealed P. ultimum as the most similar sequence （〉 96% identity） with GenBank entry AB355596.展开更多
During the course of an outdoor experiment of mosquito biocontrol,a newstrain of fun-gus was isolated frominfected mosquito larvae,and identified as a newspecies of Pythium according to its morphological features as w...During the course of an outdoor experiment of mosquito biocontrol,a newstrain of fun-gus was isolated frominfected mosquito larvae,and identified as a newspecies of Pythium according to its morphological features as well as its DNA sequences of rDNA ITS region.Type specimen(driedculture) is deposited in HMAS,Beijing.展开更多
Trichoderma harzianum strain T22 controls various diseases of maize and other crops, including seedling and root rots caused by Pythium ultimum. Seedlings of inbred line Mo17 were grown from T22-treated or untreated s...Trichoderma harzianum strain T22 controls various diseases of maize and other crops, including seedling and root rots caused by Pythium ultimum. Seedlings of inbred line Mo17 were grown from T22-treated or untreated seeds in field soil or in field soil intested with the pathogen. Five days after planting, seedlings of Mo17 (5-days-old) were smaller in the presence of P. ultimum and larger in the presence of T22 relative to the control. The combination of T22 with P. ultimum (T22+ P. ultimum ) resulted in plants as large as T22 alone. Methods for protein extraction and 2-D gel electrophoresis were developed. Proteins in seedlings roots from the various treatments were separated on 2-D gels and analyzed using PDQuest TM. 2-D software. With seedlings produced from T22-treated seeds, there were 104 unmatched proteins and 164 matched proteins relative to the control, and 97 and 150 from the treatment with T22+ P. ultimum, respectively, however, with P. ultimum alone the numbers were much lower than above two treatments. Comparatively, there was very lower similarity of proteome patterns of seedling roots with T22 or P. ultimum or both to control seedlings, the correlative coefficient values were 0.72, 0.51 and 0.49 for the comparisons among control with T22, P. ultimum and T22+ P. ultimum, respectively. Moreover, correlative coefficient of proteome patterns between T22 with P. ultimum was only 0.65, and T22 fungal proteome were also not same as any one of seedling roots with various treatments. Taken together, the components in seedling root proteome seemed to be mostly coming from Mo17 plants themselves and affected strongly by either microbes, but the effects appeared to be stronger by P. ultimum than by T22. 41 spots were selected for protein mass fingerprinting identification, and most detected-spots were intensified in abundance by T22 or T22+ P.ultimum treatments such as pathogenesis-related protein and endochitnase etc. SOD (Mn) was found to be involved in the defensive reaction of host against P. ultimum because the protein only appeared in the treatment with T22 or T22+ P.ultimum. Besides, some proteins associated with host respiration, nutrition synthesis and transport appeared to be in coordination with defensive-related proteins against the damping off.展开更多
Induced resistance has been evidenced as one of mechanisms of Trichoderma to control plant diseases, however, no study showed the change of host proteomics in Trichoderma-induced resistance of maize against damping-of...Induced resistance has been evidenced as one of mechanisms of Trichoderma to control plant diseases, however, no study showed the change of host proteomics in Trichoderma-induced resistance of maize against damping-off caused by Pythium ultimum Trow. The mechanism of Trichoderma harzianum Rifai for controlling maize seedling disease caused by Pythium ultimum Trow was investigated firstly by proteome technique and the result suggested that T. harzianum strain T22 was not only able to promote seedling growth but also protein accumulation. One-dimensional electrophoresis assay showed that more bands appeared on the gel with T22 or T22 combined with P. ultimum （T22 ＋ P. ultimum） treatment than with other treatments. Enzyme assay showed that two chitinases of the root sample were more activated in the treatments with T22 than in the other treatments without T22. Proteins in the seedling roots from the various treatments were separated through protein extraction and 2-D electrophoresis technique. In the seedlings produced from the T22-treated seeds, there were 104 up-regulated proteins and 164 down-regulated proteins relative to the control, and 97 and 150, respectively, aftel treatment with T22 ＋ P. ultimum; however, with P. ultimum alone the values were much lower than with the other two treatments. The correlation coefficient values were 0.72, 0.51 and 0.49 for the comparison of protein spot distribution on gel among control with T22, P. ultimum and T22 ＋ P. ultimum, respectively. So it seemed that P. ultimum infection was more effective than T22 in interfering with the host proteome profile. Furthermore, analysis with MALDITOF-MAS showed that some important proteins associated with defensive reactions were identified in T22 or T22 ＋ P. ultimum treatments, including endochitinase, pathogenesis-related protein PRMS （pathogenesis-related maize seed）, GTP-binding protein, isoflavone reductase and other proteins related to respiration. All those proteins are probably part of the network of resistance or development-related proteins. Interestingly, P. ultimum treatment resulted in elimination of pathogenesis-related protein PRMS on gel, and therefore damping-off could be in part attributed to inhibition of the expression of this protein by P. ultimum infection. Some unknown proteins are also related to the defensive reaction of the host.展开更多
文摘Due to the hidden nature of roots in the soils, it is more challenging to investigate their resistance traits and defense responses as compared to those of the aerial organs. At the same time, it is self-evident that root health is fundamental to a plant’s entire life and productivity. It is also easily conceivable that root function, physiology, morphology, and architecture are constantly impacted by the complex soil environment including both biotic and abiotic factors. This report summarizes and updates the challenges and progress in evaluating resistance responses of apple root to infection from a necrotrophic oomycete pathogen, Pythium ultimum. Several obstacles impede the progress of investigating apple root resistance traits including the difficulties of direct and real-time evaluation and the lack of a continuous supply of apple plants for repeated infection assays. Systematic and detailed analyses were made possible by implementing a micropropagation procedure for continuously generating uniform apple plants for repeated infection assays. As a result, an elite panel of apple rootstock germplasm with distinct resistance levels was identified. These apple rootstock genotypes with well-defined resistance levels are the much-needed plant materials for subsequent genomics and transgenics analyses to define the functional roles of specific candidate genes. Careful microscopic examination revealed contrasting necrosis progression patterns between resistant and susceptible genotypes, which shed light on the potential mechanisms underlying resistance traits. Our continuing research will provide a clearer view regarding the genetic elements regulating resistance traits in apple roots to P. ultimum infection.
文摘Three fungicide formulations, namely M1, M2 and M3, were prepared from sodium bicarbonate, citronella essential oil and sunflower slurry. The stability of M1, M2 and M3 formulations was determined based on pH, temperature, order of incorporation of the inputs and storage time. The most stable formulations were used for antagonistic tests on Pythium myriotylum. The Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) was used for the greenhouse tests and the mode of action was determined in vitro. The study showed that the order of incorporation of the inputs “Essential Oil-Tween 80-Bicarbonate-Slurry” (EO-T80-B-S) promotes stability. M1 and M2 are stable at 4°C, 25°C, 37°C and 40°C temperatures and have a pH of 7 and 8 respectively. The Minimum Inhibitory Concentration of M1 and M2 is 1% on P. myriotylum. M1 and M2 act on Pythium by membrane lysis, inhibiting proton pumps and inhibiting protein synthesis. The formulations M1 and M2 reduce the incidence of root rot disease in cocoyam plants growth in the greenhouse. M1 and M2 are potential candidates for improvement of cocoyam seedlings production in Cameroon.
基金supported by a grant from the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (2006AA10A214)the Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province,China (C2007000464)
文摘In order to understand the compsition and structure of herbicidal component of Pythium aphanidermatum,the isolation and structural indentification were researched.The culture filtrate was extracted by ethyl acetate,petroleum,and chloroform with the same volume respectively and the activity of the crude toxin was bioassayed.The toxin was separated by using the method of thin layer chromatography（TLC）,then the main fraction was separated by HPLC,and the structure was analyzed by the sepctrum of IR,13C-NMR and 1HNMR.The results showed that the ethyl acetate extracts had the strongest herbicidal activity.Using the method of TLC,the bioassay results showed that the extracts with Rf 0.19 had the strongest effect on weeds and the inhibition to Digitaria sanguinalis and Amaranthus retroflexus reached five levels,and the component was proved to be dimethyl o-phthalate from the spectrum of IR,13C-NMR and 1HNMR,which was one of the components from the toxin,and it had herbicidal activity.
基金Supported by the China Agriculture Research System(No.CARS-50)the National Natural Sciences Foundation of China(No.31372517)+2 种基金the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(No.201562018)the National Infrastructure of Fishery Germplasm Resources(No.2017DKA30470)the Project of Aoshan Scientific and Technological Innovation Program of Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology(No.2015ASKJ02)
文摘Pyropia yezoensis(formerly Porphyra yezoensis)is an economically important red alga that is cultured extensively in China.The red rot disease occurs commonly during Pyropia cultivation,causing serious economic losses.An incidence of red rot disease was found in a P.yezoensis farm from mid-November to mid-December 2015 at Lianyungang,Jiangsu Province,China.Histopathological examination revealed that the naturally infected thalli were infected apparently by a pathogen,leading to red rot symptoms.The causative agent was isolated and identified as the oomycete Pythium chondricola by morphological analysis and sequence analysis of the internal transcribed spacer and cytochrome oxidase subunit 1(cox 1).In artifi cial infection experiments on the P.yezoensis blades,the P.chondricola isolate was able to cause the same characteristic histopathology seen in natural infections.P.chondricola grew well at a wide range of temperatures in the range 8-31℃,salinities at 0-45 and pH 5-9.In an orthogonal test used to determine the effects of environmental factors(temperature,salinity,and zoospore concentration)on infection,the data revealed that temperature was the most important factor to affect red rot disease development,with the optimal conditions for disease expansion being 20℃,35 salinity,and a zoospore concentration of 10^6 zoospores/mL.The results obtained from the present study prompted us to set up a comprehensive epidemiological study on Pyropia,which will provide support to maintain the healthy development of the Pyropia industry in China.
文摘Biocontrol by Trichoderma has been studied mainly with selected isolates of T. harzianum, T. atroviride and T. asperellum, which are members of sections Pachybasium and Trichoderma. In contrast, species from section Longibrachiatum have only rarely been studied. On the other hand, one taxon from this section-Hypocrea jecorina (anamorph: Trichoderma reesei)-has been widely used for the production of cellulolytic and hemicellulolytic enzymes and recombinant proteins. As far as Trichoderma is concerned, molecular genetic methods and tools are most advanced in H. jecorina, and its genome has recently been fully sequenced, thus making this taxon a model organism for the genus. Here we will demonstrate that H. jecorina is able to antagonize plant pathogenic fungi in plate confrontation tests, and can protect tomato and cucumber plants against Pythium ultimum blight. Using this as a model case, we made use of available H. jecorina mutants to investigate (a) whether carbon catabolite repression via the Cre1-regulator protein has an impact on biocontrol, and (b) whether cellulase gene expression is necessary for biocontrol of P. ultimum. In the first case, plate confrontation tests and in planta experiments yielded opposite results, i.e. while a Cre1 mutant was more active in antagonization of fungi on plates, the survival rates of P. ultimum-inoculated cucumber plants was lower than with the H. jecorina wild-type strain. Mutants of H. jecorina, unable to form cellulases, were still able to antagonize fungi on plates and provided similar protection of tomatos against P. ultimum as the wild type, indicating that the pronounced biocontrol ability of H. jecorina against fungi with cellulose-containing cell-walls is not due to its high cellulolytic activity. A strain disrupted in the light-modulator gene envoy (Schmoll et al., ms submitted) exhibited in planta biocontrol activity strongly exceeding that of the wild-type strain, thereby providing a first link between Trichoderma biocontrol and light. In view of the numerous other metabolic and regulatory mutants of H. jecorina available, we suggest that this fungus should increasingly be used in basic studies on the biochemistry and genetics of biocontrol.
文摘Tomato seedlings damping-off is a limiting factor in commercial greenhouse production. To determine the causal agents of disease, sampling and fungal isolation were performed during 2012. Samples were collected from infected seedlings growing in greenhouses in the Syrian coastal region. Isolation of fungi was done in the laboratories of the Agronomical Reaserch Center, in Lattakia and the molecular analyses were done in the Biotechnology Center at Tishreen University, Lattakia, Syria, during the years 2012, 2013. Eight isolates ofPythium sp. obtained were purified using hyphal tip method （named P1, P2, P3, P4, P5, P6, P7 and P8）. Isolates were morphologically identified by optical microscope, then molecularly Characterized using genus specific ITS primers. The results of morphological characterization of pathogenic species suggested the detection of Pythium aphanidermatum, P. ultimum. The analysis of DNAs from the different isolates with ITS primers, recognizing the inter transcript spacer of nuclear ribosomal DNA proved that the eight, isolates were belonging to the species P. ultimum. The complete sequences of ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacers regions of selected isolates were determined and submitted to GenBank. The GenBank-BLAST homology search revealed P. ultimum as the most similar sequence （〉 96% identity） with GenBank entry AB355596.
文摘During the course of an outdoor experiment of mosquito biocontrol,a newstrain of fun-gus was isolated frominfected mosquito larvae,and identified as a newspecies of Pythium according to its morphological features as well as its DNA sequences of rDNA ITS region.Type specimen(driedculture) is deposited in HMAS,Beijing.
文摘Trichoderma harzianum strain T22 controls various diseases of maize and other crops, including seedling and root rots caused by Pythium ultimum. Seedlings of inbred line Mo17 were grown from T22-treated or untreated seeds in field soil or in field soil intested with the pathogen. Five days after planting, seedlings of Mo17 (5-days-old) were smaller in the presence of P. ultimum and larger in the presence of T22 relative to the control. The combination of T22 with P. ultimum (T22+ P. ultimum ) resulted in plants as large as T22 alone. Methods for protein extraction and 2-D gel electrophoresis were developed. Proteins in seedlings roots from the various treatments were separated on 2-D gels and analyzed using PDQuest TM. 2-D software. With seedlings produced from T22-treated seeds, there were 104 unmatched proteins and 164 matched proteins relative to the control, and 97 and 150 from the treatment with T22+ P. ultimum, respectively, however, with P. ultimum alone the numbers were much lower than above two treatments. Comparatively, there was very lower similarity of proteome patterns of seedling roots with T22 or P. ultimum or both to control seedlings, the correlative coefficient values were 0.72, 0.51 and 0.49 for the comparisons among control with T22, P. ultimum and T22+ P. ultimum, respectively. Moreover, correlative coefficient of proteome patterns between T22 with P. ultimum was only 0.65, and T22 fungal proteome were also not same as any one of seedling roots with various treatments. Taken together, the components in seedling root proteome seemed to be mostly coming from Mo17 plants themselves and affected strongly by either microbes, but the effects appeared to be stronger by P. ultimum than by T22. 41 spots were selected for protein mass fingerprinting identification, and most detected-spots were intensified in abundance by T22 or T22+ P.ultimum treatments such as pathogenesis-related protein and endochitnase etc. SOD (Mn) was found to be involved in the defensive reaction of host against P. ultimum because the protein only appeared in the treatment with T22 or T22+ P.ultimum. Besides, some proteins associated with host respiration, nutrition synthesis and transport appeared to be in coordination with defensive-related proteins against the damping off.
基金中国科学院资助项目，the National 10th Five-Year Project for Maize Integrated Pest Management
文摘Induced resistance has been evidenced as one of mechanisms of Trichoderma to control plant diseases, however, no study showed the change of host proteomics in Trichoderma-induced resistance of maize against damping-off caused by Pythium ultimum Trow. The mechanism of Trichoderma harzianum Rifai for controlling maize seedling disease caused by Pythium ultimum Trow was investigated firstly by proteome technique and the result suggested that T. harzianum strain T22 was not only able to promote seedling growth but also protein accumulation. One-dimensional electrophoresis assay showed that more bands appeared on the gel with T22 or T22 combined with P. ultimum （T22 ＋ P. ultimum） treatment than with other treatments. Enzyme assay showed that two chitinases of the root sample were more activated in the treatments with T22 than in the other treatments without T22. Proteins in the seedling roots from the various treatments were separated through protein extraction and 2-D electrophoresis technique. In the seedlings produced from the T22-treated seeds, there were 104 up-regulated proteins and 164 down-regulated proteins relative to the control, and 97 and 150, respectively, aftel treatment with T22 ＋ P. ultimum; however, with P. ultimum alone the values were much lower than with the other two treatments. The correlation coefficient values were 0.72, 0.51 and 0.49 for the comparison of protein spot distribution on gel among control with T22, P. ultimum and T22 ＋ P. ultimum, respectively. So it seemed that P. ultimum infection was more effective than T22 in interfering with the host proteome profile. Furthermore, analysis with MALDITOF-MAS showed that some important proteins associated with defensive reactions were identified in T22 or T22 ＋ P. ultimum treatments, including endochitinase, pathogenesis-related protein PRMS （pathogenesis-related maize seed）, GTP-binding protein, isoflavone reductase and other proteins related to respiration. All those proteins are probably part of the network of resistance or development-related proteins. Interestingly, P. ultimum treatment resulted in elimination of pathogenesis-related protein PRMS on gel, and therefore damping-off could be in part attributed to inhibition of the expression of this protein by P. ultimum infection. Some unknown proteins are also related to the defensive reaction of the host.
