Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Digital Commons Network

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Plant Sciences

PDF

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Theses/Dissertations

2010

Phylloplane|Phyllosphere|Peronospora tabacina|Innate Immunity|Hydathode

Articles 1 - 1 of 1

Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network

Phylloplanins: Novel Antifungal Proteins On Plant Leaf Surfaces, Ryan William Shepherd Jan 2010

Phylloplanins: Novel Antifungal Proteins On Plant Leaf Surfaces, Ryan William Shepherd

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Secreted surface proteins are an innate immune defense component employed by animals to inhibit invading microbes. Surface proteins have not been documented in plants, even though the aerial leaf surface, or phylloplane, is a major site of pathogen ingress. We have discovered novel proteins, termed phylloplanins, which accumulate on leaf surfaces of Nicotiana tabacum, and we have isolated the gene Phylloplanin that is unique in gene databases. Natural and E. coli-expressed phylloplanins inhibit spore germination and limit leaf infection by the oomycete pathogen Peronospora tabacina.

We investigated the site of phylloplanin biosynthesis using biochemical techniques. These techniques …