Biochemical and Molecular Variations of Guaiacol Peroxidase and Total Phenols in Bacterial Wilt Pathogenesis of Solanum melongena

Abstract

Plants respond to bacterial pathogen attack by activating various defense responses, which are associated with the accumulation of several factors like defense-related enzymes and inhibitors which serve to prevent pathogen infection. The present study focused on the role of the defense-related enzyme and gene expression of Guaiacol preroxidase and Total phenol content in imparting activities was analyzed by selecting three different eggplant cultivars against bacterial wilt pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum. The temporal pattern of induction of these enzymes showed (42.72 U) maximum activity at 21 h after the pathogen inoculation (hpi) in resistant cultivars. The expressions of defense genes increased 5.5 folds in resistant eggplant cultivars after pathogen inoculation. The total phenol content increased significantly (P<0.05) in resistant cultivars upon pathogen inoculation compared to susceptible and highly susceptible cultivars. The biochemical and molecular markers provided an insight to understand the first line of defense responses in eggplant cultivars upon inoculation with the pathogen.