Verticillium dahliae toxins induce changes in expression of a putative histone H2B and a pumilio/Puf RNA-binding protein in Arabidopsis thaliana

To gain insight into the molecular mechanisms of plant defence response to Verticillium dahliae, We identified the genes whose expression patterns were altered during early response to V dahliae toxins (VD-toxins) in Arabidopsis seedlings using the mRNA differential display approach. Four true positive bands (DD1, DD2, DD3 and DD4) were confirmed from the 30 differentially displayed bands. The deduced nucleotide sequence of the DD1 and DD2 clones showed strong homology with genes encoding a putative histone H2B and a pumilio/Puf RNA-binding protein, respectively. Quantitative real-time RT-PCR assays suggested that the expression pattern of genes of DD1 and DD2 in two ecotypes of Arabidopsis were clearly different. The results indicate that the putative histone H2B and pumilio/Puf RNA-binding protein encoded by DD1 and DD2 genes may be involved in regulation of the defence responses against VD-toxins in Arabidopsis and the pumilio/Puf RNA-binding protein plays a more important role in the defence responses.