Abstract
Bacterial wilt is caused by a soil borne pathogen, Ralsotonia solanacearum, damaging the production of major crops such as potato, tomato, and eggplant. The infection occurs mainly at roots via wounds or secondary roots. In early stages of infection, the pathogens multiply in plant vascular systems and produce extracellular polysaccharides inhibiting their water solube transport. The pathogenicity and molecular mechanisms of the infection of R. solanacearum have been well studied through molecular genetic approaches and the genome sequencing project, while information about plant responses during the infection or development of disease resistance is very limited.
When infected with incompatible strain into eggplant leaves, development of the leaf trachea were inhibited and UV fluorescence microscopy of infected sections showed the accumulation of fluorescence substances around the leaf vein. In this report, we studied changes in metabolic profiles at the infection sites of eggplants challenged by during the infection of an incompatible-strain of R. solanacearum, through comprehensive FT-ICR/MS and LC-MS analyses.
