Albugo candida (white rust) suppresses resistance to downy mildew pathogens in Arabidopsis thaliana

Abstract

Arabidopsis thaliana accessions were inoculated with incompatible isolates of downy mildews, following pre-inoculation with compatible Albugo candida. Three isolates of Hyaloperonospora parasitica subsp. A. thaliana, an isolate of H. parasitica subsp. Brassica oleracea and one Bremia lactucae (lettuce) isolate were included. All downy mildews sporulated on A. thaliana, suggesting A. candida suppresses broad-spectrum downy mildew resistance. The white rust resistance gene, RAC5, is being investigated. The resistance phenotype associated with RAC5 seems not to involve a hypersensitive response. RAC5 has been mapped telomeric of nga106 on chromosome 5, in a region lacking NB-LRR genes, the most common structural class of resistance genes known in A. thaliana.