The Cutinase Bdo_10846 Play an Important Role in the Virulence of and in Inducing the Wart Symptom on Apple Plant.

is a pathogen with worldwide distribution, infecting hundreds of species of economically important woody plants. It infects and causes various symptoms on apple plants, including wart and canker on branches, twigs, and stems. However, the mechanism of warts formation is unclear. In this study, we investigated the mechanism of wart formation by observing the transection ultrastructure of the inoculated cortical tissues at various time points of the infection process and detecting the expression of genes related to the pathogen pathogenicity and plant defense response. Results revealed that wart induced by consisted of proliferous of phelloderm cells, the newly formed secondary phellem, and the suberized phelloderm cells surrounding the invading mycelia. The qRT-PCR analysis revealed the significant upregulation of apple pathogenesis-related and suberification-related genes and a pathogen cutinase gene . The knockout transformants showed reduced cutinase activity and decreased virulence. Transient expression of Bdo_10846 in induced ROS burst, callose formation, the resistance of to , and significant upregulation of the plant pathogenesis-related and suberification-related genes. Additionally, the enzyme activity is essential for the induction. Virus-induced gene silencing demonstrated that the and expression were required for the Bdo_10846 induced defense response in . These results revealed the mechanism of wart formation induced by invasion and the important roles of the cutinase Bdo_10846 in pathogen virulence and in inducing plant immunity.