The rare sugar d-tagatose protects plants from downy mildews and is a safe fungicidal agrochemical

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Abstract

The rare sugar d-tagatose is a safe natural product used as a commercial food ingredient. Here, we show that d-tagatose controls a wide range of plant diseases and focus on downy mildews to analyze its mode of action. It likely acts directly on the pathogen, rather than as a plant defense activator. Synthesis of mannan and related products of d-mannose metabolism are essential for development of fungi and oomycetes; d-tagatose inhibits the first step of mannose metabolism, the phosphorylation of d-fructose to d-fructose 6-phosphate by fructokinase, and also produces d-tagatose 6-phosphate. d-Tagatose 6-phosphate sequentially inhibits phosphomannose isomerase, causing a reduction in d-glucose 6-phosphate and d-fructose 6-phosphate, common substrates for glycolysis, and in d-mannose 6-phosphate, needed to synthesize mannan and related products. These chain-inhibitory effects on metabolic steps are significant enough to block initial infection and structural development needed for reproduction such as conidiophore and conidiospore formation of downy mildew.

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Mochizuki, S., Fukumoto, T., Ohara, T., Ohtani, K., Yoshihara, A., Shigematsu, Y., … Akimitsu, K. (2020). The rare sugar d-tagatose protects plants from downy mildews and is a safe fungicidal agrochemical. Communications Biology, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-020-01133-7

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