Application of Functional Genomics to the Study of Solanacea's Defense Mechanisms against Xanthomonas sp. Pathogenicity

Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris (Xcc) is a major bacterial pathogen of cruciferous plants worldwide. The pathogen produces polysaccharides including extracellular cyclic glucan, xanthan, and extracellular enzymes that are key virulence factors. Different Xcc mutants (8397-defective in xanthan and 8523- defective in extracellular glucans) have been obtained and characterized in previously, wich shown to be less infective than the wild type strain when inoculated in N.benthamiana, wich has shown to be an excellent model for the study of Xcc-plant interaction. The objective of this work is evaluate this compounds functions in the plant-pathogen interaction, in particular in the plant transcriptoma modulation to confer susceptibility or resistance to the infection. Plant gene expression profiles would be obtained from independently inoculated leaves of N.benthamiana with the following strains of xanthomonas: Xcc. 8004 (wild type), Xcc. 8397 (xanthan minus), Xcc. 8523 (glucan minus), ant water (control). Leaves discs will be collected at 24 hs post infection and immediately submerged in liquid N2. Total RNA will be extracted with plant RNA specific kits (RNA easy QIAGen), treated with DNase, purified and quantified. Keywords: Reference design 11 hybs total