Revealing Host Metabolome Reprogramming by the Economically Important Fungal Plant Pathogens Botrytis cinerea and Magnaporthe grisea

Abstract
Metabolomic approaches including Fourier- transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and Electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) were used to elucidate changes during susceptible and resistant interactions of Magnaporthe grisea with B. distachyon. Following data mining, discriminatory analytes (m/z) were shown to be phospholipids (PL) by ESIMS-MS. We are now moving to correlate transcriptional and metabolomic changes, concentrating on PL-based regulation.

This same Metabolomic approach is being applied to the Botrytis cinerea interaction with Arabidopsis wild-type and ethylene signalling mutants, which exhibit either enhanced or compromised defence.