Abstract

In the last decade, the bacterial pathogen Xylella fastidiosa has devastated olive trees throughout Apulia region (Southern Italy) in the form of the disease called “Olive Quick Decline Syndrome” (OQDS). This study describes changes in the metabolic profile due to the infection by X. fastidiosa subsp. pauca ST53 in artificially inoculated young olive plants of the susceptible variety Cellina di Nardò. The test plants, grown in a thermo-conditioned greenhouse, were also co-inoculated with some xylem-inhabiting fungi known to largely occur in OQDS-affected trees, in order to partially reproduce field conditions in terms of biotic stress. The investigations were performed by combining NMR spectroscopy and MS spectrometry with a non-targeted approach for the analysis of leaf extracts. Statistical analysis revealed that Xylella-infected plants were characterized by higher amounts of malic acid, formic acid, mannitol, and sucrose than in Xylella-non-infected ones, whereas it revealed slightly lower amounts of oleuropein. Attention was paid to mannitol which may play a central role in sustaining the survival of the olive tree against bacterial infection. This study contributes to describe a set of metabolites playing a possible role as markers in the infections by X. fastidiosa in olive.

Details

Title
A non-targeted metabolomics study on Xylella fastidiosa infected olive plants grown under controlled conditions
Author
Asmae, Jlilat 1 ; Ragone, Rosa 2 ; Gualano Stefania 3 ; Santoro, Franco 3 ; Gallo, Vito 2 ; Varvaro Leonardo 1 ; Mastrorilli Piero 2 ; Saponari, Maria 4 ; Nigro, Franco 5 ; D’Onghia Anna Maria 3 

 Università Degli Studi Della Tuscia, Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie e Forestali (DAFNE), Viterbo, Italy (GRID:grid.12597.38) (ISNI:0000 0001 2298 9743) 
 Politecnico di Bari, Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Ambientale, del Territorio, Edile e di Chimica (DICATECh), Bari, Italy (GRID:grid.4466.0) (ISNI:0000 0001 0578 5482); Innovative Solutions S.R.L. – Spin Off del Politecnico Di Bari, Noci, Italy (GRID:grid.4466.0) 
 Centre International de Hautes Etudes Agronomiques Méditerranéennes (CIHEAM) of Bari, Valenzano, Italy (GRID:grid.435803.9) 
 Istituto Per La Protezione Sostenibile Delle Piante, CNR, SS Bari, Bari, Italy (GRID:grid.5326.2) (ISNI:0000 0001 1940 4177) 
 Università Degli Studi di Bari ″Aldo Moro″, Dipartimento di Scienze del Suolo, della Pianta e degli Alimenti, Bari, Italy (GRID:grid.7644.1) (ISNI:0000 0001 0120 3326) 
Publication year
2021
Publication date
2021
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2477377035
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2021. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.