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JXB Advance Access originally published online on September 4, 2009
Journal of Experimental Botany 2009 60(14):4105-4114; doi:10.1093/jxb/erp240
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© 2009 The Author(s).
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. This paper is available online free of all access charges (see http://jxb.oxfordjournals.org/open_access.html for further details)

RESEARCH PAPER

Insect peptide metchnikowin confers on barley a selective capacity for resistance to fungal ascomycetes pathogens

Mohammad Rahnamaeian1, Gregor Langen1, Jafargholi Imani1, Walaa Khalifa1, Boran Altincicek1, Diter von Wettstein2, Karl-Heinz Kogel1,* and Andreas Vilcinskas1,*

1Institute of Phytopathology and Applied Zoology, Research Centre for BioSystems, Land Use and Nutrition (IFZ), Justus Liebig University, D-35392 Giessen, Germany
2Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Washington State University, WA 99164-6420, USA

* To whom correspondence should be addressed: E-mail: Karl-Heinz.Kogel{at}agrar.uni-giessen.de E-mail: Andreas.Vilcinskas{at}agrar.uni-giessen.de

The potential of metchnikowin, a 26-amino acid residue proline-rich antimicrobial peptide synthesized in the fat body of Drosophila melanogaster was explored to engineer disease resistance in barley against devastating fungal plant pathogens. The synthetic peptide caused strong in vitro growth inhibition (IC50 value ~1 µM) of the pathogenic fungus Fusarium graminearum. Transgenic barley expressing the metchnikowin gene in its 52-amino acid pre-pro-peptide form under the control of the inducible mannopine synthase (mas) gene promoter from the Ti plasmid of Agrobacterium tumefaciens displayed enhanced resistance to powdery mildew as well as Fusarium head blight and root rot. In response to these pathogens, metchnikowin accumulated in plant apoplastic space, specifying that the insect signal peptide is functional in monocotyledons. In vitro and in vivo tests revealed that the peptide is markedly effective against fungal pathogens of the phylum Ascomycota but, clearly, less active against Basidiomycota fungi. Importantly, germination of the mutualistic basidiomycete mycorrhizal fungus Piriformospora indica was affected only at concentrations beyond 50 µM. These results suggest that antifungal peptides from insects are a valuable source for crop plant improvements and their differential activities toward different phyla of fungi denote a capacity for insect peptides to be used as selective measures on specific plant diseases.

Key words: Antimicrobial peptides, ascomycete fungi, barley, disease resistance, metchnikowin

Received 11 February 2009; Revised 23 June 2009 Accepted 14 July 2009


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