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PLANTS INTERACTING WITH OTHER ORGANISMS

Extracellular DNA Is Required for Root Tip Resistance to Fungal Infection^1,[W],[OA]

Department of Plant Sciences, Division of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85713

Plant defense involves a complex array of biochemical interactions, many of which occur in the extracellular environment. The apical 1- to 2-mm root tip housing apical and root cap meristems is resistant to infection by most pathogens, so growth and gravity sensing often proceed normally even when other sites on the root are invaded. The mechanism of this resistance is unknown but appears to involve a mucilaginous matrix or "slime" composed of proteins, polysaccharides, and detached living cells called "border cells." Here, we report that extracellular DNA (exDNA) is a component of root cap slime and that exDNA degradation during inoculation by a fungal pathogen results in loss of root tip resistance to infection. Most root tips (>95%) escape infection even when immersed in inoculum from the root-rotting pathogen Nectria haematococca. By contrast, 100% of inoculated root tips treated with DNase I developed necrosis. Treatment with BAL31, an exonuclease that digests DNA more slowly than DNase I, also resulted in increased root tip infection, but the onset of infection was delayed. Control root tips or fungal spores treated with nuclease alone exhibited normal morphology and growth. Pea (Pisum sativum) root tips incubated with [³²P]dCTP during a 1-h period when no cell death occurs yielded root cap slime containing ³²P-labeled exDNA. Our results suggest that exDNA is a previously unrecognized component of plant defense, an observation that is in accordance with the recent discovery that exDNA from white blood cells plays a key role in the vertebrate immune response against microbial pathogens.

The author responsible for distribution of materials integral to the findings presented in this article in accordance with the policy described in the Instructions for Authors (www.plantphysiol.org) is: Martha C. Hawes (mhawes{at}u.arizona.edu).

^[W] The online version of this article contains Web-only data.

^[OA] Open Access articles can be viewed online without a subscription.

www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/doi/10.1104/pp.109.142067

^* Corresponding author; e-mail mhawes{at}u.arizona.edu.

Received May 26, 2009; accepted August 12, 2009; published August 21, 2009.

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Plant Physiol. 2009 151: 481-482. [Full Text]