Mycorrhizal inoculation and induction of chitinases and β-1,3-glucanases and fusarium resistance in grapevine rootstock

Abstract

The objective of this work was to evaluate the expression levels of β-1,3-glucanases and chitinases in SO4 and 110 grapevine rootstocks, respectively susceptible and resistant to Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. herbemontis, as well as to evaluate the effect of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Glomus intraradices on plant growth, on enzyme expression and on pathogen suppression in the susceptible rootstock. The enzyme activities of β-1,3-glucanases and chitinases in the rootstocks roots were evaluated. Plant growth, enzyme activity, and disease symptoms were evaluated in SO4 plantlets inoculated with G. intraradices and F. oxysporum. Enzyme activities in the plant roots increased in the resistant rootstock, between 0 and 5 days after pathogen inoculation. In the susceptible rootstock, chitinase activity enhanced after the mycorrhizal fungus and the pathogen inoculations. β-1,3-glucanase activity increased only in the presence of both the mycorrhizal and the pathogenic fungi. G. intraradices-inoculated SO4 grapevine plantlets showed decreased symptoms of Fusarium infection, which indicates that the mycorrhizal fungus promotes chitinase and β-1,3-glucanase activities leading to pathogen suppression or inhibition.