02860naa a2200349 a 450000100080000000500110000800800410001902200140006002400350007410000190010924501850012826000090031352018300032265000110215265000100216365000330217365000130220665000130221965000220223265000100225465000090226470000210227370000170229470000290231170000180234070000220235870000170238070000210239770000230241870000240244177300450246520437682017-07-21       2016    bl uuuu     u00u1 u    #d  a2190-57387 a10.1007/s13205-015-0320-72DOI1 aLACERDA, A. F.  aThe recombinant pea defensin Drr230a is active against impacting soybean and cotton pathogenic fungi from the genera Fusarium, Colletotrichum and Phakopsora.h[electronic resource]  c2016  aPlant defensins are antifungal peptides produced by the innate immune system plants developed to circumvent fungal infection. The defensin Drr230a, originally isolated from pea, has been previously shown to be active against various entomopathogenic and phytopathogenic fungi. In the present study, the activity of a yeast-expressed recombinant Drr230a protein (rDrr230a) was tested against impacting soybean and cotton fungi. First, the gene was subcloned into the yeast expression vector pPICZαA and expressed in Pichia pastoris. Resulting rDrr230a exhibited in vitro activity against fungal growth and spore germination of Fusarium tucumaniae, which causes soybean sudden death syndrome, and against Colletotrichum gossypii var. cephalosporioides, which causes cotton ramulosis. The rDrr230a IC50 corresponding to inhibition of fungal growth of F. tucumaniae and C. gossypii var. cephalosporioides was 7.67 and 0.84 µM, respectively, demonstrating moderate activity against F. tucumaniae and high potency against C. gossypii var. cephalosporioides. Additionally, rDrr230a at 25 ng/µl (3.83 µM) resulted in 100 % inhibition of spore germination of both fungi, demonstrating that rDrr230a affects fungal development since spore germination. Moreover, rDrr230a at 3 µg/µl (460.12 µM) inhibited 100 % of in vitro spore germination of the obligatory biotrophic fungus Phakopsora pachyrhizi, which causes Asian soybean rust. Interestingly, rDrr230a substantially decreased the severity of Asian rust, as demonstrated by in planta assay. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a plant defensin active against an obligatory biotrophic phytopathogenic fungus. Results revealed the potential of rDrr230a as a candidate to be used in plant genetic engineering to control relevant cotton and soybean fungal diseases.  aCotton  aFungi  aPlant diseases and disorders  aSoybeans  aAlgodão  aDoença de planta  aFungo  aSoja1 aSARTO, R. P. del1 aSILVA, M. S.1 aVASCONCELOS, E. A. R. de1 aCOELHO, R. R.1 aSANTOS, V. O. dos1 aGODOY, C. V.1 aSEIXAS, C. D. S.1 aSILVA, M. C. M. da1 aGROSSI-DE-SA, M. F.  t3 Biotechgv. 6, n. 1, p. 59, Feb. 2016.