NPC – Natural Products of Colletotrichum higginsianum

Role of fungal secondary metabolites in plant infection

The hemibiotrophic ascomycete fungus Colletotrichum higginsianum, the causal agent of crucifer anthracnose disease, is responsible for severe yield losses on brassica crops in tropical and subtropical regions. In addition to cultivated Brassica and Raphanus (cabbages and radishes), it also infects the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana which allow in-depth dissection of plant-pathogen interactions. C. higginsianum has a great potential of more than 77 biosynthetic pathways, meaning potentially 77 different families of compounds are biosynthesized. Among these 77 biosynthetic pathways, 23 are active during infection of the host plant of which 19 remain silent in vitro.

The NPC project aims at:

1. activating plant-specific biosynthetic pathways in vitro;
2. elucidating chemical structures of the intermediates and end-products of these pathways;
3. deciphering the roles of the natural products of C. higginsianum during plant infection by using both innovative and longstanding bioassays.

The NPC project was initiated in the frame of the “Chaires d’Excellence” program of the French National Research Agency (ANR), project FUNAPP, grant ANR-12-CHEX-0008.Metabolite profiling and target bioassays are implemented to demonstrate the improvement of availability and activity.