Pine wilt disease: what do we know from proteomics?

Abstract

Pine wilt disease (PWD) is a devastating forest disease caused by the pinewood nematode (PWN), Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, a migratory endoparasite that infects several coniferous species. During the last 20 years, advances have been made for understanding the molecular bases of PWN-host trees interactions. Major advances emerged from transcriptomic and genomic studies, which revealed some unique features related to PWN pathogenicity and constituted fundamental data that allowed the development of postgenomic studies. Here we review the proteomic approaches that were applied to study PWD and integrated the current knowledge on the molecular basis of the PWN pathogenicity. Proteomics has been useful for understanding cellular activities and protein functions involved in PWN-host trees interactions, shedding light into the mechanisms associated with PWN pathogenicity and being promising tools to better clarify host trees PWN resistance/susceptibility.

Keywords: Biomarkers; Pine trees; Pine wood nematode; Plant-pathogen interactions; Proteomics.

Fig. 1

Pine wilt disease species interactions among the pinewood nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, a host tree, Pinus pinaster and an insect vector, Monochamus galloprovincialis

Fig. 2

Generic experimental workflow for Bursaphelenchus xylophilus proteomics. Data-dependent acquisition (DDA); data-independent acquisition (DIA); gene ontology (GO)

Fig. 3

Illustration of secretory organs and natural openings in Bursaphelenchus xylophilus

Fig. 4

Functional annotation of protein sequences correspondent to selected pathogenicity biomarkers in Bursaphelenchus xylophilus secretome. Number of sequences associated to each gene ontology (GO) term at molecular function (MF) and biological process (BP) GO category

Fig. 5

Major outcomes of proteomics research on pine wilt disease (PWD). Pinewood nematode (PWN)