Full Professor in Genetics Univ of Barcelona Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Vascular pathogens pose a serious threat to global agriculture, causing devastating diseases in a wide range of economically important crops. These pathogens employ diverse strategies to invade the xylem, where they proliferate extensively, obstruct water and nutrient transport, and ultimately cause plant wilting and death. In response, certain resistant plant varieties have evolved mechanisms to detect such infections and activate strong defense responses within the xylem. Among the most effective of these is the formation of physico-chemical barriers that block pathogen colonization and spread.
Using the tomato–Ralstonia solanacearum pathosystem as a robust model, our work demonstrates that resistant cultivars respond to infection by reinforcing their xylem cell walls with ligno-suberin polymers and accumulating feruloyl-tyramine, a key compound involved in shaping the defense-related metabolic network in plants. We present evidence that both genetic and pharmacological manipulation of this metabolic pathway significantly increases resistance to infection. These findings offer a promising avenue for engineering broad-spectrum resistance to vascular pathogens through precise modification of plant cell wall metabolism.
