A Case of Plant Vaccination: Enhancement of Plant Immunity against by Necrotized Spores of the Pathogen.

The soil-borne fungus is causing a devastating vascular disease in more than 200 species of dicotyledonous plants. The pathogen attacks susceptible plants through the roots, colonizes the plant vascular system, and causes the death of aerial tissues. In this study, we used and eggplants to examine the plant protective and immunization effects of autoclaved spores against . We observed that the application of autoclaved spores in eggplants and resulted in enhanced protection against , since the disease severity and pathogen colonization were lower in the plants treated with autoclaved spores when compared to controls. In addition, upregulation of the defense related genes and in the plants treated with the autoclaved spores was revealed. Furthermore, pathogenicity experiments in the mutant , defective in chitin perception, revealed a loss of protection against in the treated with the autoclaved spores. The participation of the chitin receptor CERK1 is evident in Arabidopsis immunization against using autoclaved spores of the pathogen.