Quantification of Alternaria brassicicola infection in the Arabidopsis thaliana and Brassica rapa subsp. pekinensis

Black spot caused by Alternaria brassicicola is an important fungal disease affecting cruciferous crops, including Korean cabbage (Brassica rapa subsp. pekinensis). The interaction between Arabidopsis thaliana and Alt. brassicicola is a representative model system, and objective estimation of disease progression is indispensable for accurate functional analyses. Five strains caused black spot symptom progression on Korean cabbage and Ara. thaliana ecotype Col-0. In particular, challenge with the strains Ab44877 and Ab44414 induced severe black spot progression on Korean cabbage. Ab44877 was also highly infective on Col-0; however, the virulence of Ab44414 and the remaining strains on Col-0 was lower. To unveil the relationship between mycelial growth in the infected tissues and symptom progression, we have established a reliable quantification method using real-time FOR that employs a primer pair and dual-labelled probe specific to a unigene encoding A. brassicicola SCYTALONE DEHYDRATASE1 (AbSCD1), which is involved in fungal melanin biosynthesis. Plotting the crossing point values from the infected tissue DNA on a standard curve revealed active fungal ramification of Ab44877 in both host species. In contrast, the proliferation rate of Ab44414 in Korean cabbage was 3.8 times lower than that of Ab44877. Massive infective mycelial growth of Ab44877 was evident in Col-0; however, inoculation with Ab44414 triggered epiphytic growth rather than actual in planta ramification. Mycelial growth did not always coincide with symptom development. Our quantitative evaluation system is applicable and reliable for the objective estimation of black spot disease severity.