Abstract
In Reunion Island, pineapple crops are exposed to high parasitic pressure promoted by the subtropical climate of the island. The Fruitlet Core Rot (FCR) disease is caused by a set of fungal pathogenic species in which Fusarium ananatum has been the most described so far. The development of brown discoloration in mature fruits represents a major issue affecting notably the quality of the ‘Queen Victoria’ pineapple cultivar due to its high susceptibility to FCR. Until now, the management of epidemics lies on the combination of suitable agricultural practices and the use of fungicide treatments. Nevertheless, these strategies are unsuccessful in the presence of climatic conditions that favor the development and dispersion of causalagents. Mycotoxins accumulation in the flesh of infected fruits is also of concern in the preservation of sanitary quality of fruit productions. In order to develop novel alternatives for sustainable sources of FCR resistance, my research work focused on the determinants of ‘Queen Victoria’ pineapple susceptibility. An epidemiological approach permitted to establish that Fruitlet Core Rot occurrence ispositively correlated to contamination patterns resulting from aerial dispersion of the pathogen spores. Moreover, the prevalence of fungal species belonging to the complexes Fusarium fujikuroi and Talaromyces purpureogenus within the fruit mycobiome have demonstrated the role of a pathogenic fungal set composed of Fusarium proliferatum, Fusarium ananatum, Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium sacchari, Talaromyces stollii and Talaromyces amestolkiae in the disease expression. The in vitro study of interaction profiles between four of those species have evidenced the growth antagonism of T. stollii on the pathogenic Fusarium species. Significant variations of mycotoxin contents (fumonisins B1, B2 and beauvericin) were also measured during dual culture of pathogens. Finally, the analysis based on varietal comparison of the molecular signal promoting early defense responses show that susceptibility of ‘Queen Victoria’ cultivar is partly supported by a low constitutive expression of genes involved in the synthesis of PR proteins. The results suggest a fungal strategy based on the repression of defense signal transduction in pineapple during the first 72 hours of the host - pathogen interaction leading to the disease establishment.