Bacterial Leaf Infiltration Assay for Fine Characterization of Plant Defense Responses using the Arabidopsis thaliana-Pseudomonas syringae Pathosystem

Summary

Quantification of pathogen growth is a powerful tool to characterize various Arabidopsis thaliana (hereafter: Arabidopsis) immune responses. The method described here presents an optimized syringe infiltration assay to quantify the Pseudomonas syringae pv. maculicola ES4326 growth in adult Arabidopsis leaves.

Abstract

In the absence of specialized mobile immune cells, plants utilize their localized programmed cell death and Systemic Acquired Resistance to defend themselves against pathogen attack. The contribution of a specific Arabidopsis gene to the overall plant immune response can be specifically and quantitatively assessed by assaying the pathogen growth within the infected tissue. For over three decades, the hemibiotrophic bacterium Pseudomonas syringae pv. maculicola ES4326 (Psm ES4326) has been widely applied as the model pathogen to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying the Arabidopsis immune response. To deliver pathogens into the leaf tissue, multiple inoculation methods have been established, e.g., syringe infiltration, dip inoculation, spray, vacuum infiltration, and flood inoculation. The following protocol describes an optimized syringe infiltration method to deliver virulent Psm ES4326 into leaves of adult soil-grown Arabidopsis plants and accurately screen for enhanced disease susceptibility (EDS) towards this pathogen. In addition, this protocol can be supplemented with multiple pre-treatments to further dissect specific immune defects within different layers of plant defense, including Salicylic Acid (SA)-Triggered Immunity (STI) and MAMP-Triggered Immunity (MTI).

Introduction

Due to their sessile nature, plants are constantly threatened by a plethora of pathogens exhibiting various lifestyles and nutritional strategies¹. To a first approximation, biotrophic pathogens maintain their host alive to retrieve nutrients, while necrotrophic pathogens actively secret toxins and enzymes to kill host tissue and feed on the dead cells¹. Another group of pathogens, termed hemibiotrophs, begins their infection course with the biotrophic stage and shifts to the necrotrophic stage upon reaching a certain threshold of pathogen accumulation². In order to effectively defend themselves against these microorganisms, plants hav....

Protocol

The following text describes a stepwise protocol to perform optimized Psm ES4326 syringe infiltration assay in Arabidopsis. Major procedures of this assay are represented in a simplified flowchart (Figure 1).

1. Plant Growth Conditions

1. Sow seeds
   1. Prepare 2 pots (4 in diameter, 3.75 in tall) loosely filled with soil and water pots by soaking them from the bottom O/N before draining the excess water.
   2. Sow 50-100 Arabidopsis seeds, wild-type Col-0 or npr1-1 mutant, on each pot with a folded 70 mm weighing sheet or other paper.
   3. Cover the pot with a water-sp....

Results

The protocol we describe here represents an optimized P. syringae syringe infiltration assay to quantitatively evaluate the immune response in Arabidopsis plants. As illustrated in Figure 1, the syringe infiltration of Psm ES4326 is followed by pathogen extraction and quantification via serial dilutions and colonies enumeration.

As described in Step 3 within the protocol text, Enhanced Disease Susceptibility (EDS) against Psm ES4326 can be a.......

Discussion

With decreasing available farmland and increasing population, researchers around the world are challenged with pressing needs for crop improvement. The yield can be greatly influenced by various biotic and abiotic stresses. Among them, pathogen infection is one of the leading causes of crop yield reduction, responsible for approximately 12% losses in the U.S. alone⁴⁵. To resolve this issue, massive research has been conducted in the model Arabidopsis - P. syringae pathosystem to comprehensively charac.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
MetroMix 360	Grosouth	SNGMM360
Large pots	Grosouth	TEKUVCC10TC
12 x 6 Inserts	Grosouth	LM1206
11x 21 Flats with no holes	Grosouth	LM1020
11x 21 Flats with holes	Grosouth	LM1020H
Vinyl propagation domes	Grosouth	CW-221
Proteose Peptone	Fisher Scientific	DF0122-17-4
Potassium Phosphate Dibasic Trihydrate	MP Biomedicals	151946
Agar	Fisher Scientific	A360-500
Streptomycin sulfate	Bio Basic Inc	SB0494
100 x 15 mm Petri dishes	Fisher Scientific	FB0875713
150 x 15 mm Petri dishes	Fisher Scientific	R80150
Rectangular plate	Fisher Scientific	12-565-450
MgCl2 Hexahydrate	Bio Basic Inc	MB0328
Glycerol	Bio Basic Inc	GB0232
MgSO4	Bio Basic Inc	MN1988
1 ml syringe	Fisher Scientific	NC9992493
Kimwipe	Fisher Scientific	06-666-A
Grinding tubes	Denville Scientific	B1257
Caps for grinding tubes	Denville Scientific	B1254
Stainless steel grinding ball	Fisher Scientific	2150
96-well plate	Fisher Scientific	12-556-008
Sodium Salicylate	Sigma Aldrich	s3007-1kg
flg22 (QRLSTGSRINSAKDDAAGLQIA)	Genescript	Made to order
elf18 (Ac-SKEKFERTKPHVNVGTIG)	Genescript	Made to order
Hole puncher	Staples	146308
Biophotometer plus	Eppendorf	952000006
PowerGen High-Throughput Homogenizer	Fisher Scientific	02-215-503
Accu spin micro centrifuge	Fisher Scientific	13-100-675
Multichannel pipette (10-100 µl)	Eppendorf	3122 000.043
Multichannel pipette (30-300 µl)	Eppendorf	3122 000.060
Pipette (20µl)	Eppendorf	3120 000.038
Pipette tips	Fisher Scientific	3552-HR
Sharpie permanent marker	Staples	507130
1.5 ml tube	Eppendorf	22363204
Forceps	Fisher Scientific	08-890