Title:Protease Inhibitors (PIs): Candidate Molecules for Crop Protection
Formulations against Necrotrophs
Volume: 30
Issue: 1
Author(s): Aswati R. Nair*, Padmesh Pillai and Sharmila Raj
Affiliation:
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Central University of Kerala, Kasaragod 671 320, Kerala, India
Keywords:
Necrotrophs, proteases, protease inhibitors, soil-borne, storage organs, phytopathogenic.
Abstract: Necrotrophic phytopathogens pose a serious challenge to the productivity of several crops
causing seedling damage, pre- and post-emergence damping-off and root rot thus reducing plant
growth and yield. They are known to gain nutrition by secreting a diverse array of hydrolytic enzymes
and thereby causing extensive host plant tissue maceration. Amongst the diverse hydrolases, proteases
play a pivotal role in the necrotrophic mode of nutrition and thereby in determining pathogenic
virulence. Host plants often counteract the necrotrophic proteolysis events by proteins (peptides),
particularly through protease inhibitors (PIs). PIs play an important role in host innate immunity
function by functioning as anti-metabolic proteins inhibiting the activity of phytopathogenic secretory
proteases. Their abundance in plant storage organs explains their anti-nutritional interaction which
stalls pathogenic invasion. PIs, therefore, constitute potential candidates that can be deployed as
effective antimicrobials in agriculture, particularly against necrotrophic soil-borne pathogens. The
present review traces the progress made in the identification of PIs from plants, and their inhibitory
potential against necrotrophic phytopathogens and explores prospects of utilizing these molecules as
effective anti-necrotrophic formulations for disease management.
