Differential Expression of β -1,3-Glucanase Transcripts Induced by Pathogens in the Leaves of Vitis flexuosa

The differential expression of β-1,3-glucanase genes in the leaves of Vitis flexuosa induced by fungal and bacterial pathogen infections was investigated. The nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequences of β-1,3-glucanase genes from the transcripts of V. flexuosa were compared. The percentage similarity of deduced amino acid ranged from 22.0% between VfGlu34359 and VfGlu48103 to 96.9% in VvGlu2735 and VvGlu48103. To demonstrate the differential expression pattern of β-1,3-glucanase genes, primers specific to unique regions in each gene were obtained by alignment of the sequences. Accumulation patterns of β-1,3-glucanase mRNAs in the leaves of V. flexuosa were induced differentially and were dependent on the pathogens used including Botrytis cinerea, Colletotrichum acutatum, Elsinoe ampelina, and Rhizobium vitis. This study provides useful information that will improve our understanding of grapevine defense responses to various pathogen attacks.