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Plant growth hormones suppress the development of Harpophora maydis, the cause of late wilt in maize

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Abstract

Late wilt, a severe vascular disease of maize caused by the fungus Harpophora maydis, is characterized by rapid wilting of maize plants before tasseling and until shortly before maturity. The pathogen is currently controlled by resistant maize cultivars, but the disease is constantly spreading to new areas. The plant’s late phenological stage at which the disease appears suggests that plant hormones may be involved in the pathogenesis. This work revealed that plant growth hormones, auxin (Indole-3-acetic acid) and cytokinin (kinetin), suppress H. maydis in culture media and in a detached root assay. Kinetin, and even more auxin, caused significant suppression of fungus spore germination. Gibberellic acid did not alter colony growth rate but had a signal suppressive effect on the pathogens’ spore germination. In comparison, ethylene and jasmonic acid, plant senescing and defense response regulators, had minor effects on colony growth and spore germination rate. Their associate hormone, salicylic acid, had a moderate suppressive effect on spore germination and colony growth rate, and a strong influence when combined with auxin. Despite the anti-fungal auxin success in vitro, field experiments with dimethylamine salt of  2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (that mimics the influence of auxin) failed to suppress the late wilt. The lines of evidence presented here reveal the suppressive influence of the three growth hormones studied on fungal development and are important to encourage further and more in-depth examinations of this intriguing hormonal complex regulatory and its role in the maize-H. maydis interactions.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Dr. Tsafrir Weinberg (Galilee Seeds, Research and Development (1989) Ltd), Dr. Onn Rabinovitz (Israel Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Consultation Service) and Mr. Shaul Graph (Migal – Galilee Research Institute) for their helpful advice, Tal Magen, Shahar Menashe and Asaf Blatman (Tel-Hai College, Israel) for their technical assistance. This work was supported by a research grant from the Israel Plant Council, Ministry of Agriculture and a research grant from the Jewish National Fund (Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tel-Hai College, Upper Galilee, 12210, Tel-Hai, Israel

    Ofir Degani & Yuval Goldblat

  2. Migal – Galilee Research Institute, Southern Industrial Zone, P.O. Box 831, 11016, Kiryat Shmona, Israel

    Ofir Degani & Ran Drori

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  1. Ofir Degani
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  2. Ran Drori
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Correspondence to Ofir Degani.

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Degani, O., Drori, R. & Goldblat, Y. Plant growth hormones suppress the development of Harpophora maydis, the cause of late wilt in maize. Physiol Mol Biol Plants 21, 137–149 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12298-014-0265-z

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