Alternaria Toxins—Potential Selective Agents in Biotechnology Approaches for Plant Improvement

ABSTRACT

Increasing sustainable agricultural production has always been related with cultivation of crops that are better able to tolerate biotic stresses (pests, diseases and weeds) and abiotic stresses (drought, salinity, and temperature stress). During last decades breeding programs apply different biotechnology approaches to improve the performance and productivity of crops, incl. increased resistance to plant diseases caused by toxin produced fungal pathogens. Fungi from genus Alternaria produce a group of mycotoxins as alternariols, altertoxins, tenuasonic acid etc. Host specific toxins of Alternaria spp. plant pathogens play an important role in pathogenesis and they could be applied as selective agents in in vitro selection at the cellular level for disease resistance. Toxin compounds' effect on development of necrotic lesions on tobacco and tomato leaves was observed. The correlation between plant susceptibility to the pathogen and sensitivity to the toxin substances is discussed in the light of possibilities for application in the crop breeding programmes.

Keywords:

• Alternaria
• resistance
• toxins