RCH1, a locus in Arabidopsis that confers resistance to the hemibiotrophic fungal pathogen Colletotrichum higginsianum

When challenged with the crucifer pathogen Colletotrichum higginsianum, Arabidopsis thaliana ecotype Columbia (Col-0) was colonized by the fungus within 2 to 3 days, developing brown necrotic lesions surrounded by a yellow halo. Lesions spread from the inoculation site within 3 to 4 days, and subsequently continued to expand until they covered the entire leaf. Electron microscopy confirmed that C. higginsianum is a hemibiotroph on Arabidopsis, feeding initially on living cells as a biotroph before switching to a necrotrophic mode of growth. A collection of 37 ecotypes of Arabidopsis varied in their responses to infection by C. higginsianum. The ecotype Eil-0 was highly resistant, with symptoms limited to necrotic flecking and with only very limited fungal colonization. Analyses suggested that the hypersensitive response and reactive oxygen species may be important in this defense response. Expression analyses with cDNA microarrays indicated that the defense reaction depends primarily on the jasmonic acid- and ethylene-dependent signaling pathways and, to a lesser extent, on the salicylate-dependent pathway. Crosses between the Eil-0 and Col-0 ecotypes suggested that the resistance in Eil-0 was dominant and was conferred by a single locus, which we named RCH1. RCH1 is the first resistance locus to be identified from Arabidopsis against the hemibiotrophic fungus genus Colletotrichum.