| DEDICATION | 第5-11页 |
| ABBREVIATIONS | 第11-21页 |
| 摘要 | 第21-23页 |
| ABSTRACT | 第23-24页 |
| CHAPTER ONE:1.0 General introduction | 第26-32页 |
| 1.1 General objective | 第29-30页 |
| 1.2 Specific objectives | 第30-32页 |
| CHAPTER TWO:Research background | 第32-42页 |
| 2.0 Phytophthora capsici | 第32-33页 |
| 2.1 Lifecycle of Phytophthora capsici | 第33-34页 |
| 2.2 Phytophthora capsici effectors | 第34-38页 |
| 2.2.1 RxLR effectors | 第35-36页 |
| 2.2.2 Crinkler (CRN) effectors | 第36-38页 |
| 2.3 Molecular Plant-Pathogen Interactions | 第38-41页 |
| 2.3.1 PAMP Triggered Immunity (PTI) | 第39-40页 |
| 2.3.2 Effector Triggered Immunity (ETI) | 第40-41页 |
| 2.4 Localization Phytophthora effectors | 第41-42页 |
| CHAPTER THREE: A virulence essential CRN effector of Phytophthora capsici suppresses host defense and induces cell death in plant nucleus | 第42-68页 |
| 3.1 Introduction | 第44-46页 |
| 3.2 Materials and Methods | 第46-52页 |
| 3.2.1 Plasmid construction | 第46页 |
| 3.2.2 Agrobacterium tumefaciens infiltration assays | 第46-48页 |
| 3.2.3 Pathogenicity assay | 第48-49页 |
| 3.2.4 Phytophthora capsici inoculation and in vitro samples | 第49页 |
| 3.2.5 RNA extraction and real time quantitative RT-PCR | 第49-50页 |
| 3.2.6 Protein extraction and Western blot | 第50页 |
| 3.2.7 Confocal microscopy | 第50页 |
| 3.2.8 Stable silencing of PcCRN4 in P. capsici | 第50-51页 |
| 3.2.9 Oxygen burst detection and Callose deposition assay | 第51页 |
| 3.2.10 Trypan blue staining | 第51-52页 |
| 3.3 Results | 第52-66页 |
| 3.3.1 Identification of PcCRN4 homologs and cell death induction in three plants | 第52-56页 |
| 3.3.2 PcCRN4 is expressed at infection stages | 第56-57页 |
| 3.3.3 PcCRN4 requires nuclear localization to trigger cell death | 第57-58页 |
| 3.3.4 PcCRN4 enhances Phytophthora virulence on N. benthamiana and decreases ROS accumulation | 第58-60页 |
| 3.3.5 PcCRN4 is required for full virulence | 第60-62页 |
| 3.3.6 Silenced line exhibits reduced invasive hyphae, ability to reduce H_2O_2 accumulation and callose deposition | 第62-63页 |
| 3.3.7 In planta expression of PcCRN4 recovers virulence of the silenced line | 第63-64页 |
| 3.3.8 PcCRN4 may manipulate cell death by regulating expression of cell death-related genes | 第64-66页 |
| 3.4 Discussion | 第66-68页 |
| CHAPTER FOUR: Overexpression of Phytophthora capsici effector RxLR242 induces cell death,disease and defense responses in Nicotiana benthamiana | 第68-90页 |
| 4.1 Introduction | 第70-72页 |
| 4.2 Materials and Methods | 第72-77页 |
| 4.2.1 Plasmid construction | 第72页 |
| 4.2.2 Agrobacterium tumefaciens infiltration assays | 第72-74页 |
| 4.2.3 Pathogenicity assay | 第74页 |
| 4.2.4 Phytophthora capsici inoculation and in vitro samples | 第74-75页 |
| 4.2.5 RNA extraction and real time quantitative RT-PCR | 第75页 |
| 4.2.6 Protein extraction and Western blot | 第75-76页 |
| 4.2.7 Confocal microscopy | 第76页 |
| 4.2.8 Stable silencing of PcRxLR242 in P.capsici | 第76页 |
| 4.2.9 Oxygen burst detection | 第76-77页 |
| 4.2.10 Trypan blue staining | 第77页 |
| 4.2.11 Generation of Tobacco Rattle Virus (TRV)-Based Virus-Induced Gene Silencing(VIGs) N. benthamiana plants | 第77页 |
| 4.3 Results | 第77-86页 |
| 4.3.1 Overexpression of PcRxLR242 induce cell death in planta | 第77-80页 |
| 4.3.2 PcRxLR242 is expressed highly at early infection stages | 第80-81页 |
| 4.3.3 PcRxLR242 protein localization in the cytosol | 第81-82页 |
| 4.3.4 Expression of PcRxLR242 reduces plant susceptibility to P. capsici | 第82-83页 |
| 4.3.5 Silencing PcRxLR242 increases plant susceptibility to P. capsici | 第83-85页 |
| 4.3.6 PcRxLR242-silenced lines enhances virulence on N. tabacum | 第85-86页 |
| 4.4 Discussion | 第86-90页 |
| CONCLUSIONS AND SUMMARY | 第90-92页 |
| REFERENCES | 第92-108页 |
| PUBLICATIONS | 第108-110页 |
| ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS | 第110页 |
