Induction of defense responses in cucumber plants by using the cell-free filtrate of the plant growth-promoting fungus Penicillium simplicissimum GP17-2

Abstract

Penicillium simplicissimum GP17-2 is a plant growth-promoting fungus (PGPF) and an inducer of systemic defense responses. The mechanisms underlying the effect of GP17-2 on the reduction of cucumber leaf damage caused by the anthracnose pathogen Colletotrichum orbiculare were investigated. Cucumber leaves treated with the culture filtrate (CF) of GP17-2 exhibited a clear systemic resistance against subsequent infection with C. orbiculare. The number and size of lesions caused by the disease were reduced in CF-treated plants, in comparison with that in the control plants. The results showed that CF treatment could trigger a set of defense responses, including the production of hydrogen peroxide, formation of lignin, emission of ultra-weak photons, accumulation of salicylic acid, and increase in the transcription of the genes for the defense-related enzymes chitinase and peroxidase. Furthermore, subsequent inoculation of CF-pretreated plants with C. orbiculare resulted in higher systemic expression of the genes for chitinase, β-1,3-glucanase, and peroxidase relative to nontreated, inoculated plants; this indicated that CF mediates a potentiation state in the plant, enabling it to mount a rapid and effective response on infection by C. orbiculare. Our results indicate that the ability of CF of GP17-2 to stimulate active oxygen species, lignification, SA accumulation, and defense gene activation and potentiation in the host is the possible mode of action of the GP17-2 elicitor and inducer of induced systemic resistance against C. orbiculare infection in cucumber plants.