Cotton WATs Modulate SA Biosynthesis and Local Lignin Deposition Participating in Plant Resistance Against Verticillium dahliae

Verticillium wilt is a severe plant disease, increasing the plant resistance to this disease is a critical challenge worldwide. Here, we report that the Verticillium dahliae (V. dahliae)-secreted Aspf2-like protein VDAL causes leaf wilting when applied to cotton leaves in vitro, but enhances the resistance to V. dahliae when overexpressed in Arabidopsis or cotton. VDAL interacts with Arabidopsis E3 ligases PUB25 and PUB26 (PUBs) and is ubiquitinated by PUBs in vitro. However, VDAL is not degraded by PUBs in planta. Besides, the pub25 pub26 shows higher resistance to V. dahliae than the wild type. PUBs interact with the transcription factor MYB6 in a yeast two-hybrid screen. MYB6 promotes plant resistance to Verticillium wilt while PUBs ubiquitinate MYB6 and mediate its degradation. VDAL competes with MYB6 for binding to PUBs, and the role of VDAL in increasing wilt disease depends on MYB6. These results suggest that plants evolute a strategy to utilize the invaded effector protein VDAL to resist the V. dahliae infection without causing a hypersensitive response. This study provides the molecular mechanism for plants increasing disease resistance when overexpressing some effector proteins, and may promote searching for more genes from pathogenic fungi or bacteria to engineer plant disease resistance.

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A Cotton Lignin Biosynthesis Gene, GhLAC4, Fine-Tuned by ghr-miR397 Modulates Plant Resistance Against Verticillium dahliae

Frontiers in Plant Science ◽

10.3389/fpls.2021.743795 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Taiping Wei ◽

Ye Tang ◽

Pei Jia ◽

Yanming Zeng ◽

Bingting Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cell Wall ◽

Verticillium Dahliae ◽

Plant Resistance ◽

Lignin Content ◽

Plant Defence ◽

Lignin Biosynthesis ◽

Biotic Stresses ◽

Gus Reporter ◽

Loss Of Weight ◽

Underlying Mechanisms

Plant lignin is a component of the cell wall, and plays important roles in the transport potential of water and mineral nutrition and plant defence against biotic stresses. Therefore, it is necessary to identify lignin biosynthesis-related genes and dissect their functions and underlying mechanisms. Here, we characterised a cotton LAC, GhLAC4, which participates in lignin biosynthesis and plant resistance against Verticillium dahliae. According to degradome sequencing and GUS reporter analysis, ghr-miR397 was identified to directedly cleave the GhLAC4 transcript through base complementary. GhLAC4 knockdown and ghr-miR397 overexpression significantly reduced basal lignin content compared to the control, whereas ghr-miR397 silencing significantly increased basal lignin levels. Based on staining patterns and GC/MS analysis, GhLAC4 acted in G-lignin biosynthesis. Under V. dahliae infection, we found that G-lignin content in ghr-miR397-knockdowned plants significantly increased, compared to these plants under the mock treatment, while G-lignin contents in GhLAC4-silenced plants and ghr-miR397-overexpressed plants treated with pathogen were comparable with these plants treated with mock, indicating that GhLAC4 participates in defence-induced G-lignin biosynthesis in the cell wall. Knockdown of ghr-miR397 in plants inoculated with V. dahliae promoted lignin accumulation and increased plant resistance. The overexpression of ghr-miR397 and knockdown of GhLAC4 reduced lignin content and showed higher susceptibility of plants to the fungal infection compared to the control. The extract-free stems of ghr-miR397-knockdowned plants lost significantly less weight when treated with commercial cellulase and V. dahliae secretion compared to the control, while the stems of ghr-miR397-overexpressed and GhLAC4-silenced plants showed significantly higher loss of weight. These results suggest that lignin protects plant cell walls from degradation mediated by cellulase or fungal secretions. In summary, the ghr-miR397-GhLAC4 module regulates both basal lignin and defence-induced lignin biosynthesis and increases plant resistance against infection by V. dahliae.

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Verticillium dahliae effector VDAL protects MYB6 from degradation by interacting with PUB25 and PUB26 E3 ligases to enhance Verticillium wilt resistance

The Plant Cell ◽

10.1093/plcell/koab221 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Aifang Ma ◽

Dingpeng Zhang ◽

Guangxing Wang ◽

Kai Wang ◽

Zhen Li ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Disease Resistance ◽

Verticillium Wilt ◽

Verticillium Dahliae ◽

Plant Resistance ◽

Plant Disease Resistance ◽

Plant Disease ◽

Wilt Resistance ◽

E3 Ligases ◽

Verticillium Wilt Resistance

Abstract Verticillium wilt is a severe plant disease that causes massive losses in multiple crops. Increasing the plant resistance to Verticillium wilt is a critical challenge worldwide. Here, we report that the hemibiotrophic Verticillium dahliae-secreted Asp f2-like protein VDAL causes leaf wilting when applied to cotton leaves in vitro but enhances the resistance to V. dahliae when overexpressed in Arabidopsis or cotton without affecting the plant growth and development. VDAL protein interacts with Arabidopsis E3 ligases plant U-box 25 (PUB25) and PUB26 and is ubiquitinated by PUBs in vitro. However, VDAL is not degraded by PUB25 or PUB26 in planta. Besides, the pub25 pub26 double mutant shows higher resistance to V. dahliae than the wild-type. PUBs interact with the transcription factor MYB6 in a yeast two-hybrid screen. MYB6 promotes plant resistance to Verticillium wilt while PUBs ubiquitinate MYB6 and mediate its degradation. VDAL competes with MYB6 for binding to PUBs, and the role of VDAL in increasing Verticillium wilt resistance depends on MYB6. Taken together, these results suggest that plants evolute a strategy to utilize the invaded effector protein VDAL to resist the V. dahliae infection without causing a hypersensitive response (HR); alternatively, hemibiotrophic pathogens may use some effectors to keep plant cells alive during its infection in order to take nutrients from host cells. This study provides the molecular mechanism for plants increasing disease resistance when overexpressing some effector proteins without inducing HR, and may promote searching for more genes from pathogenic fungi or bacteria to engineer plant disease resistance.

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Cloning and characterization of a Solanum torvum NPR1 gene involved in regulating plant resistance to Verticillium dahliae

Acta Physiologiae Plantarum ◽

10.1007/s11738-014-1671-0 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 36 (11) ◽

pp. 2999-3011 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Jue Deng-wei ◽

Yang liu ◽

Shi ce ◽

Chen Min ◽

Yang Qing

Keyword(s):

Verticillium Dahliae ◽

Plant Resistance ◽

Solanum Torvum ◽

Npr1 Gene

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An Overview of the Molecular Genetics of Plant Resistance to the Verticillium Wilt Pathogen Verticillium dahliae

International Journal of Molecular Sciences ◽

10.3390/ijms21031120 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 21 (3) ◽

pp. 1120 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Ranran Song ◽

Junpeng Li ◽

Chenjian Xie ◽

Wei Jian ◽

Xingyong Yang

Keyword(s):

Verticillium Wilt ◽

Verticillium Dahliae ◽

Plant Resistance ◽

Molecular Mechanisms ◽

Extracellular Enzymes ◽

Molecular Genetic ◽

Genetic Resistance ◽

Economic Loss ◽

Resistance Mechanisms ◽

Important Relationship

Verticillium dahliae is a soil-borne hemibiotrophic fungus that can lead to plant vascular disease and significant economic loss worldwide. Its hosts include over 400 dicotyledon plant species, such as annual herbs, perennials, and woody plants. The average yield loss of cotton crop caused by Verticillium wilt is approximately 10–35%. As the control of this disease is an urgent task for many countries, further understanding of the interaction between plants and V. dahliae is essential. Fungi can promote or inhibit plant growth, which is important; however, the most important relationship between plants and fungi is the host–pathogen relationship. Plants can become resistant to V. dahliae through diverse mechanisms such as cell wall modifications, extracellular enzymes, pattern recognition receptors, transcription factors, and salicylic acid (SA)/jasmonic acid (JA)/ethylene (ET)-related signal transduction pathways. Over the last decade, several studies on the physiological and molecular mechanisms of plant resistance to V. dahliae have been undertaken. In this review, many resistance-related genes are summarised to provide a theoretical basis for better understanding of the molecular genetic mechanisms of plant resistance to V. dahliae. Moreover, it is intended to serve as a resource for research focused on the development of genetic resistance mechanisms to combat Verticillium wilt.

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Host-Induced Gene Silencing of an Adenylate Kinase Gene Involved in Fungal Energy Metabolism Improves Plant Resistance to Verticillium dahliae

Biomolecules ◽

10.3390/biom10010127 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

pp. 127

Author(s):

Xiaofeng Su ◽

Guoqing Lu ◽

Xiaokang Li ◽

Latifur Rehman ◽

Wende Liu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Energy Metabolism ◽

Gene Silencing ◽

Verticillium Dahliae ◽

Plant Resistance ◽

Adenylate Kinase ◽

Wild Type ◽

Kinase Gene ◽

Promising Strategy ◽

Knockout Mutants ◽

Interfering Rna

Verticillium wilt, caused by the ascomycete fungus Verticillium dahliae (Vd), is a devastating disease of numerous plant species. However, the pathogenicity/virulence-related genes in this fungus, which may be potential targets for improving plant resistance, remain poorly elucidated. For the study of these genes in Vd, we used a well-established host-induced gene silencing (HIGS) approach and identified 16 candidate genes, including a putative adenylate kinase gene (VdAK). Transiently VdAK-silenced plants developed milder wilt symptoms than control plants did. VdAK-knockout mutants were more sensitive to abiotic stresses and had reduced germination and virulence on host plants. Transgenic Nicotiana benthamiana and Arabidopsis thaliana plants that overexpressed VdAK dsRNAs had improved Vd resistance than the wild-type. RT-qPCR results showed that VdAK was also crucial for energy metabolism. Importantly, in an analysis of total small RNAs from Vd strains isolated from the transgenic plants, a small interfering RNA (siRNA) targeting VdAK was identified in transgenic N. benthamiana. Our results demonstrate that HIGS is a promising strategy for efficiently screening pathogenicity/virulence-related genes of Vd and that VdAK is a potential target to control this fungus.

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Functional Genomics and Comparative Lineage-Specific Region Analyses Reveal Novel Insights into Race Divergence in Verticillium dahliae

Microbiology Spectrum ◽

10.1128/spectrum.01118-21 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (3) ◽

Author(s):

Dan Wang ◽

Dan-Dan Zhang ◽

Toshiyuki Usami ◽

Lei Liu ◽

Lin Yang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Functional Genomics ◽

Verticillium Dahliae ◽

Plant Resistance ◽

Resistance Breeding ◽

Specific Region ◽

Host Pathogen Interactions ◽

Content Type ◽

Host Pathogen ◽

Gene For Gene

Deciphering the gene-for-gene relationships during host-pathogen interactions is the basis of modern plant resistance breeding. In the Verticillium dahliae -tomato pathosystem, two races (races 1 and 2) and their corresponding avirulence ( Avr ) genes have been identified, but strains that lacked these two Avr genes exist in nature.

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