Characterization of the role in plant defense of a cassava protein that potentially interacts with the HpaF effector from Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. manihotis    
D. GÓMEZ DE LA CRUZ (1), C. Trujillo (1), V. Hurtado (1), C. Alvarado (1), S. Restrepo (1), A. Bernal (1) (1) Laboratorio de Micología y Fitopatología, Universidad de los Andes, Colombia

Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. manihotis (Xam) is the causal agent of bacterial blight in cassava (Manihot esculenta), and therefore threats food security in the tropical countries where this crop is cultivated. Like many plant pathogens, Xam relies on the secretion of type three effectors (T3E) to disrupt plant defense and favor disease development. hpaF is a core T3E conserved among several Xam strains from diverse origins. HpaF has a role as suppressor of plant defenses elicited by the recognition of pathogen-associated molecular patterns. A cassava protein that potentially interacts with HpaF was found using a yeast-two-hybrid screen against a cassava cDNA library. One of these interactors was named HpaF Interactor 1 (HFI1). Using a heterologous system with an A. thaliana mutant line for the HFI1 gene analogue, we found that this protein might be important in plant defense. However, because cassava transformation is a complex and lengthy process, this has not been tested in cassava. We attempted A. thaliana mutant complementation with both, the A. thaliana and the cassava version of HFI1, to test for a wild type phenotype retrieval and extend our results to cassava. This is the first approach towards the characterization of a potential cassava protein interacting with a Xam T3E    

Abstract Number: P17-529
Session Type: Poster