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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, July 2002, p. 3315-3320, Vol. 68, No. 7
0099-2240/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.68.7.3315-3320.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Phage-Displayed Peptides as Developmental Agonists for Phytophthora capsici Zoospores

Sharon L. Bishop-Hurley,^1, Sarah A. Mounter,^1,2 James Laskey,¹ Roy O. Morris,² Jim Elder,² Philip Roop,¹ Chris Rouse,² Francis J. Schmidt,² and James T. English^1*

Department of Plant Microbiology and Pathology,¹ Department of Biochemistry, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri 65211²

Received 17 December 2001/ Accepted 15 April 2002

As part of its pathogenic life cycle, Phytophthora capsici disperses to plants through a motile zoospore stage. Molecules on the zoospore surface are involved in reception of environmental signals that direct preinfection behavior. We developed a phage display protocol to identify peptides that bind to the surface molecules of P. capsici zoospores in vitro. The selected phage-displayed peptides contained an abundance of polar amino acids and proline but were otherwise not conserved. About half of the selected phage that were tested concomitantly induced zoospore encystment in the absence of other signaling agents. A display phage was shown to bind to the zoospore but not to the cyst form of P. capsici. Two free peptides corresponding to active phage were similarly able to induce encystment of zoospores, indicating that their ability to serve as signaling ligands did not depend on their exact molecular context. Isolation and subsequent expression of peptides that act on pathogens could allow the identification of receptor molecules on the zoospore surface, in addition to forming the basis for a novel plant disease resistance strategy.

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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Plant Microbiology and Pathology, 108 Waters Hall, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211. Phone: (573) 882-1472. Fax: (573) 882-0588. E-mail: englishj{at}missouri.edu.

Present address: Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, University of Missouri—Columbia, Columbia, MO 65212.

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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, July 2002, p. 3315-3320, Vol. 68, No. 7
0099-2240/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.68.7.3315-3320.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

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