For a better understanding of ash dieback: Scientists of the TU Braunschweig discover phytotoxic

The pathogen of ash dieback, the fungus Hymenoscyphus pseudoalbidus, was discovered only a few years ago. This fungus currently invades from Asia and causes effects that are visible since almost two decades.

Since the 1990’s a significant part of the ash population in Europe was devastated by the fungus. An important contribution for the revalation of the pathogenicity of this organism was now made by scientists from the Institutes of Organic Chemistry and Microbiology from the TU Braunschweig. 

The German scientists around Dr. Jeroen Dickschat and Dr. Barbara Schulz investigated the largely unknown secondary metabolism of the pathogenic fungus. They discovered a volatile lactone (3,4-dimethylpentan-4-olide) in the headspace of agar plate cultures of the fungus for which they used special equipment for headspace analysis (closed-loop stripping apparatus). The Institute of Organic Chemistry is one of the few institutions that have access to and experience with this method, explains Dr. Dickschat.

Biologists then testet the bioactivity of the volatile lactone against seeds of the ash tree. The lactone exhibited a strong germination inhibition towards ash seeds and caused necroses on the seedlings. By this agressive property, the fungus destroys its own host and habitat, comments Dr. Dickschat. The scientists came to the conclusion that only the European Ash is attacked by the lactone, whereas its Japanese sister species seems to be immune.

„We assume that the phytotoxic lactone plays a main role in the pathogenicity of the fungus“, says Dr. Dickschat, „but there are likely more factors involved that may originate from the plant itself.“ The scientists from Braunschweig hope to lay the ground for further work to understand the pathogenicity mechanisms of H. pseudoalbidus and probably pave the way to a control of the disease.

Publication
C. A. Citron, C. Junker, B. Schulz, J. S. Dickschat, Ein flüchtiges Lacton aus Hymenoscyphus pseudoalbidus, Pathogen des Europäischen Eschensterbens, inhibiert die Keimung seines Wirtes, Angew. Chem. 2014, DOI: 10.1002/ange.201402290.

C. A. Citron, C. Junker, B. Schulz, J. S. Dickschat, A Volatile Lactone of Hymenoscyphus pseudoalbidus, Pathogen of European Ash Dieback, Inhibits Host Germination, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, DOI: 10.1002/anie.201402290.

Contact
PD Dr. Jeroen S. Dickschat
Institute of Organic Chemistry
Technical University of Braunschweig
Hagenring 30
D-38106 Braunschweig
Germany
Phone: +49 (531) 391-5264
E-Mail: j.dickschat@tu-bs.de
http://www.oc.tu-bs.de/dickschat

http://blogs.tu-braunschweig.de/presseinformationen/p=6791