Expression of a metacaspase gene of Nicotiana benthamiana after inoculation with Colletotrichum destructivum or Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato, and the effect of silencing the gene on the host response

Metacaspases are cysteine proteinases that have homology to caspases, which play a central role in signaling and executing programmed cell death in animals. A type II metacaspase cDNA, NbMCA1, was amplified from Nicotiana benthamiana infected with Colletotrichum destructivum. It showed a peak in expression at 72 h post-inoculation corresponding with the switch to necrotrophy by C. destructivum. Inoculation of N. benthamiana with an incompatible bacterium, Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato, which should induce a non-host hypersensitive response (HR), did not result in an increase in NbMCA1 expression at the time of necrosis development at 20–24 h postinoculation. Virus-induced silencing of NbMCA1 resulted in three to four times more lesions due to C. destructivum compared with leaves inoculated with the PVX vector without the cloned metacaspase gene or inoculated with water only. However, virus-induced silencing of NbMCA1 did not affect the HR necrosis or population levels of P. syringae pv. tomato. Although this metacaspase gene does not appear to be involved in the programmed cell death of non-host HR resistance to P. syringae, it does affect the susceptibility of N. benthamiana to C. destructivum indicating a function in a basal defense response. Possible roles of NbMCA1could be in degrading virulence factors of the pathogen, processing pro-proteins involved in stress responses, eliminating damaged proteins created during stress, and/or degrading proteins to remobilize amino acids to fuel de novo synthesis of proteins involved in stress adaptations.