Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato, the causal agent of bacterial speck of tomato, and the plant growth-promoting bacterium Azospirillum brasilense were inoculated onto tomato plants, either alone, as a mixed culture, or consecutively. The population dynamics in the rhizosphere and foliage, the development of bacterial speck disease, and their effects on plant growth were monitored. When inoculate...

Tomato leaves or cotyledons expressing the Cf-2 or Cf-9 Cladosporium fulvum resistance genes induce salicylic acid (SA) synthesis following infiltration with intercellular washing fluid (IF) containing the fungal peptide elicitors Avr2 and Avr9. We investigated whether SA was required for Cf gene-dependent resistance. Tomato plants expressing the bacterial gene nahG, encoding salicylate hydroxy...

Drought causes an increase in some gene expression in plant tissues such as plasma membrane intrinsic proteins type 1 (PIP1), 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase (NCED) SlAREB1. The effects of exogenous abscisic acid (ABA) and two sulfonamide compounds, namely, sulfacetamide (Sa) and sulfasalazine (SS) were studied on gene expression of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill. Cv. Super chief) under...

BACKGROUND Bemisia tabaci MEAM1 (Middle East-Asia Minor 1) feeding alters antioxidative enzyme activity in some plant species. Infestation of B. tabaci nymphs decreases Myzus persicae performance on systemic, but not local leaves of tobacco plants. However, it is unclear if B. tabaci nymphs induced antioxidant activities contributing to the aphid resistance. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We ...

The sweetpotato whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) is one of the most invasive pest species worldwide. Q and B biotypes are the two most devastating species within the B. tabaci complex. Bemisia tabaci can vector hundreds of plant viruses that seriously threaten crop production. Endoparasitoid, Encarsia formosa Gahan, is widely used to control whiteflies, however, little is known about the eff...

Abstract Tomato plants are susceptible to significant yield losses when infested by the northern root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne hapla. While there many options for conventional chemical management, few of these offer effective control organic growers or those who seek adopt more environmentally considerate strategies. In this study, we showed that a new, biologically based product (referred as...