林木与病原菌分子互作机制研究进展

田呈明, 王笑连, 余璐, 韩珠

南京林业大学学报(自然科学版) ›› 2021, Vol. 45 ›› Issue (1) : 1-12.

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南京林业大学学报(自然科学版) ›› 2021, Vol. 45 ›› Issue (1) : 1-12. DOI: 10.12302/j.issn.1000-2006.202010001
特邀专论(执行主编 叶建仁)

林木与病原菌分子互作机制研究进展

作者信息 +

A review on the studies of molecular interaction between forest trees and phytopathogens

Author information +
文章历史 +

摘要

近年来林木与病原菌互作的分子机制研究成果丰硕,尤其是HIGS与CRISPR/Cas9等技术的发展,促进了林木病原菌关键致病基因的功能、病原菌基因组与转录组学、病原菌效应蛋白、林木抗病基因功能、林木抗病与生长平衡、林木抗病分子育种等多个层面研究的快速发展。从植物-病原菌分子互作的基本问题出发,综述了国内外林木-病原菌分子互作机制研究的进展与热点,包括病原菌侵入过程的信号网络及功能、病原菌活性氧解毒机制及效应蛋白的多种作用机制、林木与病原菌的组学研究进展、林木关键防御机制、林木与内生真菌及外生真菌互作机制等。基于目前的研究进展,对未来林木-病原菌分子互作的发展趋势进行了展望,“Zigzag”理论、“诱饵”假说这些新理论,高效的测序技术及分子操作等新技术, 效应蛋白及免疫受体互作等新方向的出现也预示着林木-病原菌互作研究开始迈入新的阶段。

Abstract

In recent years, great achivements have been made on the study of the molecular interaction between forest trees and phytopathogens. Particularly, thanks to the novel technology including HIGS and CRISPR/Cas9, there are many breakthroughs towards the functional analysis of key virulence-related genes, pathogen genome and transcriptome analysis, pathogenic effector protein analysis, functional analysis of R gene in forest trees, the balance between disease resistance and growth and molecular breeding for disease control. This paper starts with the basic issue of molecular plant-pathogen interaction currently and reviews the current progress and hotspots of molecular interaction between forest trees and pathogens, including the signal network of pathogen invasion, the detoxification mechanism of reactive oxygen species and the multiple action mechanisms of effector proteins, the research progress of omics between trees and pathogens, the key defense mechanism of trees, the interaction mechanism between trees and endophytic fungi and exophytic fungi, and so on. Based on the current research progress, we prospect the future development trend of tree-pathogen molecular interaction. At the same time, the emergence of new theories such as the Zigzag model and Decoy hypothesis, new technologies such as efficient sequencing and molecular manipulation, and new research directions such as effector protein and immune receptor interaction indicate a whole new stage of forest trees and pathogen interactions.

关键词

林木免疫 / 分子育种 / 分子互作 / 病原菌 / 效应蛋白

Key words

forest trees immunity / molecular breeding / molecular interaction / phytopathogen / effector

引用本文

导出引用
田呈明, 王笑连, 余璐, . 林木与病原菌分子互作机制研究进展[J]. 南京林业大学学报(自然科学版). 2021, 45(1): 1-12 https://doi.org/10.12302/j.issn.1000-2006.202010001
TIAN Chengming, WANG Xiaolian, YU Lu, et al. A review on the studies of molecular interaction between forest trees and phytopathogens[J]. JOURNAL OF NANJING FORESTRY UNIVERSITY. 2021, 45(1): 1-12 https://doi.org/10.12302/j.issn.1000-2006.202010001
中图分类号: S76   

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Plants and animals sense pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) and in turn differentially regulate a subset of microRNAs (miRNAs). However, the extent to which the miRNA pathway contributes to innate immunity remains unknown. Here, we show that miRNA-deficient mutants of Arabidopsis partly restore growth of a type III secretion-defective mutant of Pseudomonas syringae. These mutants also sustained growth of nonpathogenic Pseudomonas fluorescens and Escherichia coli strains, implicating miRNAs as key components of plant basal defense. Accordingly, we have identified P. syringae effectors that suppress transcriptional activation of some PAMP-responsive miRNAs or miRNA biogenesis, stability, or activity. These results provide evidence that, like viruses, bacteria have evolved to suppress RNA silencing to cause disease.
[26]
YIN C, RAMACHANDRAN S R, ZHAI Y, et al. A novel fungal effector from Puccinia graminis suppressing RNA silencing and plant defense responses[J]. New Phytol, 2019,222(3):1561-1572.DOI: 10.1111/nph.15676.
Fungal plant pathogens, like rust-causing biotrophic fungi, secrete hundreds of effectors into plant cells to subvert host immunity and promote pathogenicity on their host plants by manipulating specific physiological processes or signal pathways, but the actual function has been demonstrated for very few of these proteins. Here, we show that the PgtSR1 effector proteins, encoded by two allelic genes (PgtSR1-a and PgtSR1-b), from the wheat stem rust pathogen Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici (Pgt), suppress RNA silencing in plants and impede plant defenses by altering the abundance of small RNAs that serve as defense regulators. Expression of the PgtSR1s in plants revealed that the PgtSR1s promote susceptibility to multiple pathogens and partially suppress cell death triggered by multiple R proteins. Overall, our study provides the first evidence that the filamentous fungus P. graminis has evolved to produce fungal suppressors of RNA silencing and indicates that PgtSR1s suppress both basal defenses and effector triggered immunity.
[27]
HOU Y, ZHAI Y, FENG L, et al. A Phytophthora effector suppresses trans-kingdom RNAi to promote disease susceptibility[J]. Cell Host Microbe, 2019,25(1):153-165.e5.DOI: 10.1016/j.chom.2018.11.007.
[28]
QIAO Y, SHI J, ZHAI Y, et al. Phytophthora effector targets a novel component of small RNA pathway in plants to promote infection[J]. PNAS, 2015,112(18):5850-5855.DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1421475112.
A broad range of parasites rely on the functions of effector proteins to subvert host immune response and facilitate disease development. The notorious Phytophthora pathogens evolved effectors with RNA silencing suppression activity to promote infection in plant hosts. Here we report that the Phytophthora Suppressor of RNA Silencing 1 (PSR1) can bind to an evolutionarily conserved nuclear protein containing the aspartate-glutamate-alanine-histidine-box RNA helicase domain in plants. This protein, designated PSR1-Interacting Protein 1 (PINP1), regulates the accumulation of both microRNAs and endogenous small interfering RNAs in Arabidopsis. A null mutation of PINP1 causes embryonic lethality, and silencing of PINP1 leads to developmental defects and hypersusceptibility to Phytophthora infection. These phenotypes are reminiscent of transgenic plants expressing PSR1, supporting PINP1 as a direct virulence target of PSR1. We further demonstrate that the localization of the Dicer-like 1 protein complex is impaired in the nucleus of PINP1-silenced or PSR1-expressing cells, indicating that PINP1 may facilitate small RNA processing by affecting the assembly of dicing complexes. A similar function of PINP1 homologous genes in development and immunity was also observed in Nicotiana benthamiana. These findings highlight PINP1 as a previously unidentified component of RNA silencing that regulates distinct classes of small RNAs in plants. Importantly, Phytophthora has evolved effectors to target PINP1 in order to promote infection.
[29]
KETTLES G J, BAYON C, SPARKS C A, et al. Characterization of an antimicrobial and phytotoxic ribonuclease secreted by the fungal wheat pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici[J]. New Phytol, 2018,217(1):320-331.DOI: 10.1111/nph.14786.
The fungus Zymoseptoria tritici is the causal agent of Septoria Tritici Blotch (STB) disease of wheat leaves. Zymoseptoria tritici secretes many functionally uncharacterized effector proteins during infection. Here, we characterized a secreted ribonuclease (Zt6) with an unusual biphasic expression pattern. Transient expression systems were used to characterize Zt6, and mutants thereof, in both host and non-host plants. Cell-free protein expression systems monitored the impact of Zt6 protein on functional ribosomes, and in vitro assays of cells treated with recombinant Zt6 determined toxicity against bacteria, yeasts and filamentous fungi. We demonstrated that Zt6 is a functional ribonuclease and that phytotoxicity is dependent on both the presence of a 22-amino-acid N-terminal 'loop' region and its catalytic activity. Zt6 selectively cleaves both plant and animal rRNA species, and is toxic to wheat, tobacco, bacterial and yeast cells, but not to Z. tritici itself. Zt6 is the first Z. tritici effector demonstrated to have a likely dual functionality. The expression pattern of Zt6 and potent toxicity towards microorganisms suggest that, although it may contribute to the execution of wheat cell death, it is also likely to have an important secondary function in antimicrobial competition and niche protection.
[30]
SNELDERS N C, KETTLES G J, RUDD J J, et al. Plant pathogen effector proteins as manipulators of host microbiomes?[J]. Mol Plant Pathol, 2018,19(2):257-259.DOI: 10.1111/mpp.12628.
[31]
BONAS U, STALL R E, STASKAWICZ B. Genetic and structural characterization of the avirulence gene avrBs3 from Xanthomonas campestris pv.vesicatoria[J]. Mol Gen Genet MGG, 1989,218(1):127-136.DOI: 10.1007/BF00330575.
摘要
The avirulence gene avrBs3 from Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria was cloned and found to be localized on a self-transmissable plasmid. Genetic analysis of an avrBs3 insertion mutation revealed that avrBs3 constitutes a single locus, specifying the resistant phenotype on pepper plants. Southern blot experiments showed that no DNA sequences homologous to avrBs3 were present in other races of X. c. pv. vesicatoria, which are unable to induce a hypersensitive reaction on ECW-30R. However, the DNA of several different pathovars of X. campestris hybridized to the avrBs3 probe. A deletion analysis defined a region of 3.6-3.7 kb essential for avrBs3 activity. The nucleotide sequence of this region was determined. A 3561 nucleotide open reading frame (ORF1), encoding a 125,000 dalton protein, was found in the 3.7 kb region that was sufficient for avrBs3 activity. A second long ORF (2351 nucleotides) was identified on the other strand. A remarkable feature of both ORFs is the presence of 17 direct repeats of 102 bp which share 91%-100% homology with each other.
[32]
GÓMEZ-GÓMEZ L, BAUER Z, BOLLER T. Both the extracellular leucine-rich repeat domain and the kinase activity of FSL2 are required for flagellin binding and signaling in Arabidopsis[J]. Plant Cell, 2001,13(5):1155-1163.DOI: 10.1105/tpc.13.5.1155.
摘要
In Arabidopsis, activation of defense responses by flagellin is triggered by the specific recognition of the most conserved domain of flagellin, represented by the peptide flg22, in a process involving the FLS2 gene, which encodes a leucine-rich repeat serine/threonine protein kinase. We show here that the two fls2 mutant alleles, fls2-24 and fls2-17, which were shown previously to confer insensitivity to flg22, also cause impaired flagellin binding. These features are rescued when a functional FLS2 gene is expressed as a transgene in each of the fls2 mutant plants, indicating that FLS2 is necessary for flagellin binding. The point mutation of the fls2-17 allele lies in the kinase domain. A kinase carrying this missense mutation lacked autophosphorylation activity when expressed in Escherichia coli. This indicates that kinase activity is required for binding and probably affects the stability of the flagellin receptor complex. We further show that overexpression of the kinase-associated protein phosphatase (KAPP) in Arabidopsis results in plants that are insensitive to flagellin treatment, and we show reduced flg22 binding in these plants. Furthermore, using the yeast two-hybrid system, we show physical interaction of KAPP with the kinase domain of FLS2. These results suggest that KAPP functions as a negative regulator of the FLS2 signal transduction pathway and that the phosphorylation of FLS2 is necessary for proper binding and signaling of the flagellin receptor complex.
[33]
GALAGAN JE, CALVO S E, BORKOVICH K A, et al. The genome sequence of the filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa[J]. Nature, 2003,422(6934):859-868.DOI: 10.1038/nature01554.
摘要
Neurospora crassa is a central organism in the history of twentieth-century genetics, biochemistry and molecular biology. Here, we report a high-quality draft sequence of the N. crassa genome. The approximately 40-megabase genome encodes about 10,000 protein-coding genes--more than twice as many as in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe and only about 25% fewer than in the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster. Analysis of the gene set yields insights into unexpected aspects of Neurospora biology including the identification of genes potentially associated with red light photobiology, genes implicated in secondary metabolism, and important differences in Ca2+ signalling as compared with plants and animals. Neurospora possesses the widest array of genome defence mechanisms known for any eukaryotic organism, including a process unique to fungi called repeat-induced point mutation (RIP). Genome analysis suggests that RIP has had a profound impact on genome evolution, greatly slowing the creation of new genes through genomic duplication and resulting in a genome with an unusually low proportion of closely related genes.
[34]
DEAN RA, TALBOT N J, EBBOLE D J, et al. The genome sequence of the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe grisea[J]. Nature, 2005,434(7036):980-986.DOI: 10.1038/nature03449.
摘要
Magnaporthe grisea is the most destructive pathogen of rice worldwide and the principal model organism for elucidating the molecular basis of fungal disease of plants. Here, we report the draft sequence of the M. grisea genome. Analysis of the gene set provides an insight into the adaptations required by a fungus to cause disease. The genome encodes a large and diverse set of secreted proteins, including those defined by unusual carbohydrate-binding domains. This fungus also possesses an expanded family of G-protein-coupled receptors, several new virulence-associated genes and large suites of enzymes involved in secondary metabolism. Consistent with a role in fungal pathogenesis, the expression of several of these genes is upregulated during the early stages of infection-related development. The M. grisea genome has been subject to invasion and proliferation of active transposable elements, reflecting the clonal nature of this fungus imposed by widespread rice cultivation.
[35]
JONES J D G, DANGL J L. The plant immune system[J]. Nature, 2006,444(7117):323-329.DOI: 10.1038/nature05286.
摘要
Many plant-associated microbes are pathogens that impair plant growth and reproduction. Plants respond to infection using a two-branched innate immune system. The first branch recognizes and responds to molecules common to many classes of microbes, including non-pathogens. The second responds to pathogen virulence factors, either directly or through their effects on host targets. These plant immune systems, and the pathogen molecules to which they respond, provide extraordinary insights into molecular recognition, cell biology and evolution across biological kingdoms. A detailed understanding of plant immune function will underpin crop improvement for food, fibre and biofuels production.
[36]
ZHANG J, ZHOU J M. Plant immunity triggered by microbial molecular signatures[J]. Mol Plant, 2010,3(5):783-793.DOI: 10.1093/mp/ssq035.
摘要
Pathogen/microbe-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs/MAMPs) are recognized by host cell surface-localized pattern-recognition receptors (PRRs) to activate plant immunity. PAMP-triggered immunity (PTI) constitutes the first layer of plant immunity that restricts pathogen proliferation. PTI signaling components often are targeted by various Pseudomonas syringae virulence effector proteins, resulting in diminished plant defenses and increased bacterial virulence. Some of the proteins targeted by pathogen effectors have evolved to sense the effector activity by associating with cytoplasmic immune receptors classically known as resistance proteins. This allows plants to activate a second layer of immunity termed effector-triggered immunity (ETI). Recent studies on PTI regulation and P. syringae effector targets have uncovered new components in PTI signaling. Although MAP kinase (MAPK) cascades have been considered crucial for PTI, emerging evidence indicates that a MAPK-independent pathway also plays an important role in PTI signaling.
[37]
KHANG C H, BERRUYER R, GIRALDO M C, et al. Translocation of Magnaporthe oryzae effectors into rice cells and their subsequent cell-to-cell movement[J]. Plant Cell, 2010,22(4):1388-1403.DOI: 10.1105/tpc.109.069666.
摘要
Knowledge remains limited about how fungal pathogens that colonize living plant cells translocate effector proteins inside host cells to regulate cellular processes and neutralize defense responses. To cause the globally important rice blast disease, specialized invasive hyphae (IH) invade successive living rice (Oryza sativa) cells while enclosed in host-derived extrainvasive hyphal membrane. Using live-cell imaging, we identified a highly localized structure, the biotrophic interfacial complex (BIC), which accumulates fluorescently labeled effectors secreted by IH. In each newly entered rice cell, effectors were first secreted into BICs at the tips of the initially filamentous hyphae in the cell. These tip BICs were left behind beside the first-differentiated bulbous IH cells as the fungus continued to colonize the host cell. Fluorescence recovery after photobleaching experiments showed that the effector protein PWL2 (for prevents pathogenicity toward weeping lovegrass [Eragrostis curvula]) continued to accumulate in BICs after IH were growing elsewhere. PWL2 and BAS1 (for biotrophy-associated secreted protein 1), BIC-localized secreted proteins, were translocated into the rice cytoplasm. By contrast, BAS4, which uniformly outlines the IH, was not translocated into the host cytoplasm. Fluorescent PWL2 and BAS1 proteins that reached the rice cytoplasm moved into uninvaded neighbors, presumably preparing host cells before invasion. We report robust assays for elucidating the molecular mechanisms that underpin effector secretion into BICs, translocation to the rice cytoplasm, and cell-to-cell movement in rice.
[38]
HAN Z, SUN Y, CHAI J. Structural insight into the activation of plant receptor kinases[J]. Curr Opin Plant Biol, 2014,20:55-63.DOI: 10.1016/j.pbi.2014.04.008.
摘要
Plant genomes encode a large family of membrane-localized receptor kinases (RKs) that play important roles in diverse biological processes by responding to a wide spectrum of external signals. RK proteins have a conserved tripartite structural organization with a divergent ectodomain (ECD), a transmembrane segment and a conserved intracellular kinase domain. Signal perception by RK-ECDs induces activation of intracellular kinase domains and consequently initiates downstream signaling. An atomic understanding of the mechanisms underlying ligand recognition by RKs and their subsequent activation would aid in engineering crop plants for agricultural practice. Recent structural studies not only reveal the basis for ligand recognition of a few RKs, but also suggest dimerization as a common way of their activation. We propose that dimerization, giving rise to apposition of two intracellular kinase domains, is a general activation mechanism of RKs.
[39]
MACHO AP, LOZANO-DURÁN R, ZIPFEL C. Importance of tyrosine phosphorylation in receptor kinase complexes[J]. Trends Plant Sci, 2015,20(5):269-272.DOI: 10.1016/j.tplants.2015.02.005.
摘要
Tyrosine phosphorylation is an important post-translational modification that is known to regulate receptor kinase (RK)-mediated signaling in animals. Plant RKs are annotated as serine/threonine kinases, but recent work has revealed that tyrosine phosphorylation is also crucial for the activation of RK-mediated signaling in plants. These initial observations have paved the way for subsequent detailed studies on the mechanism of activation of plant RKs and the biological relevance of tyrosine phosphorylation for plant growth and immunity. In this Opinion article we review recent reports on the contribution of RK tyrosine phosphorylation in plant growth and immunity; we propose that tyrosine phosphorylation plays a major regulatory role in the initiation and transduction of RK-mediated signaling in plants.
[40]
DENG Y, ZHAI K, XIE Z, et al. Epigenetic regulation of antagonistic receptors confers rice blast resistance with yield balance[J]. Science, 2017,355(6328):962-965.DOI: 10.1126/science.aai8898.
摘要
Crop breeding aims to balance disease resistance with yield; however, single resistance (R) genes can lead to resistance breakdown, and R gene pyramiding may affect growth fitness. Here we report that the rice Pigm locus contains a cluster of genes encoding nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat (NLR) receptors that confer durable resistance to the fungus Magnaporthe oryzae without yield penalty. Among these NLR receptors, PigmR confers broad-spectrum resistance, whereas PigmS competitively attenuates PigmR homodimerization to suppress resistance. PigmS expression, and thus PigmR-mediated resistance, are subjected to tight epigenetic regulation. PigmS increases seed production to counteract the yield cost induced by PigmR Therefore, our study reveals a mechanism balancing high disease resistance and yield through epigenetic regulation of paired antagonistic NLR receptors, providing a tool to develop elite crop varieties.
[41]
LI W, ZHU Z, CHERN M, et al. A natural allele of a transcription factor in rice confers broad-spectrum blast resistance[J]. Cell, 2017,170(1):114-126.e15.DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2017.06.008.
[42]
HUA C, ZHAO J H, GUO H S. Trans-kingdom RNA silencing in plant-fungal pathogen interactions[J]. Mol Plant, 2018,11(2):235-244.DOI: 10.1016/j.molp.2017.12.001.
摘要
Fungal pathogens represent a major group of plant invaders that are the causative agents of many notorious plant diseases. Large quantities of RNAs, especially small RNAs involved in gene silencing, have been found to transmit bidirectionally between fungal pathogens and their hosts. Although host-induced gene silencing (HIGS) technology has been developed and applied to protect crops from fungal infections, the mechanisms of RNA transmission, especially small RNAs regulating trans-kingdom RNA silencing in plant immunity, are largely unknown. In this review, we summarize and discuss recent important findings regarding trans-kingdom sRNAs and RNA silencing in plant-fungal pathogen interactions compared with the well-known RNAi mechanisms in plants and fungi. We focus on the interactions between plant and fungal pathogens with broad hosts, represented by the vascular pathogen Verticillium dahliae and non-vascular pathogen Botrytis cinerea, and discuss the known instances of natural RNAi transmission between fungal pathogens and host plants. Given that HIGS has been developed and recently applied in controlling Verticillium wilt diseases, we propose an ideal research system exploiting plant vasculature-Verticillium interaction to further study trans-kingdom RNA silencing.
[43]
WANG J, WANG J, HU M, et al. Ligand-triggered allosteric ADP release primes a plant NLR complex[J]. Science, 2019,364(6435).DOI: 10.1126/science.aav5868.
[44]
WANG J, HU M, WANG J, et al. Reconstitution and structure of a plant NLR resistosome conferring immunity[J]. Science, 2019,364(6435).DOI: 10.1126/science.aav5870.
[45]
HE P, WANG Y, WANG X, et al. The mitogen-activated protein kinase CgMK1 governs appressorium formation,melanin synjournal,and plant infection of Colletotrichum gloeosporioides[J]. Front Microbiol, 2017,8:2216.DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2017.02216.
The fungus Colletotrichum gloeosporiodes infects plant hosts with a specialized cell called an appressorium, which is melanized and required for plant cell wall penetration. Here, we show that the mitogen-activated protein kinase CgMK1 governs appressorium formation and virulence in the poplar anthracnose fungus C. gloeosporioides. Deletion of CgMK1 impairs aerial hyphal growth and biomass accumulation, and CgMK1 is responsible for the expression of melanin biosynthesis-associated genes. CgMK1 deletion mutants are unable to form appressorium and lose the capacity to colonize either wounded or unwounded poplar leaves, leading to loss of virulence. We demonstrate that the exogenous application of cAMP fails to restore defective appressorium formation in the CgMK1 deletion mutants, suggesting that CgMK1 may function downstream or independent of a cAMP-dependent signal for appressorium formation. Moreover, CgMK1 mutants were sensitive to high osmosis, indicating that CgMK1 plays an important role in stress response. We conclude that CgMK1 plays a vital role in regulating appressorium formation, melanin biosynthesis, and virulence in C. gloeosporiodes.
[46]
FANG Y L, XIA L M, WANG P, et al. The MAPKKK CgMck1 is required for cell wall integrity,appressorium development,and pathogenicity in Colletotrichum gloeosporioides[J]. Genes (Basel), 2018,9(11).DOI: 10.3390/genes9110543.
[47]
LIN C H, YANG S L, CHUNG K R. Cellular responses required for oxidative stress tolerance,colonization,and lesion formation by the necrotrophic fungus Alternaria alternata in Citrus[J]. Curr Microbiol, 2011,62(3):807-815.DOI: 10.1007/s00284-010-9795-y.
The pathogenic capability of the tangerine pathotype of Alternaria alternata relies on the production of host-selective ACT toxin. Inoculation of A. alternata in leaves of the citrus quickly induced rapid lipid peroxidation, accumulation of hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)), and cell death, indicative of host defensive response. We previously demonstrated an essential role of the A. alternata AaAP1 gene, encoding a redox-responsive YAP1-like transcription factor, to contribute to fungal pathogenicity. The AaAP1 null mutant fails to incite necrotic lesions. In this study, we show further that the fungal mutant defective at the AaAP1 locus displayed reduced activities for glutathione-S-transferase, glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase, and ligninolytic peroxidase, yet retained normal production of ACT toxin. In contrast to the wild-type progenitor and the genetically reverted strain, the mutant strain was unable to detoxify H(2)O(2) effectively and was killed upon exposure to H(2)O(2). The mutant strain induced lower levels of H(2)O(2) accumulation in citrus leaves, compared to those induced by the wild-type or by the genetically reverted strain. Upon exposure to H(2)O(2), A. alternata apparently changed expression of a wide array of the genes regulated by AaAP1. Thus, the impairment of the AaAP1 null mutants to incite necrotic lesions is apparently a consequence of their inability to alleviate the toxicity of ROS, and circumvention of plant defenses is important for the disease process.
[48]
TSUGE T, HARIMOTO Y, AKIMITSU K, et al. Host-selective toxins produced by the plant pathogenic fungus Alternaria alternata[J]. FEMS Microbiol Rev, 2013,37(1):44-66.DOI: 10.1111/j.1574-6976.2012.00350.x.
Host-selective toxins (HSTs) produced by fungal plant pathogens are generally low-molecular-weight secondary metabolites with a diverse range of structures that function as effectors controlling pathogenicity or virulence in certain plant-pathogen interactions. There are now seven known diseases caused by Alternaria alternata in which HSTs are responsible for fungal pathogenesis. The pathogens have been defined as pathotypes of A. alternata because of morphological similarity but pathological differences. Chemical structures of HSTs from six pathotypes have been determined. The role of A. alternata HSTs in pathogenesis has been studied extensively, and discovery of the release of HSTs from germinating conidia prior to penetration aids in understanding the early participation of HSTs to induce susceptibility of host cells by suppressing their defence reactions. Many attempts have been made to find the target sites of A. alternata HSTs, and four cellular components, plasma membrane, mitochondrion, chloroplast and a metabolically important enzyme, have been identified as the primary sites of each HST action, leading to elucidation of the molecular mechanisms of HST sensitivity in host plants. Studies of the molecular genetics of HST production have identified supernumerary chromosomes encoding HST gene clusters and have provided new insights into the evolution of A. alternata pathotypes.
[49]
GARGANESE F, SCHENA L, SICILIANO I, et al. Characterization of Citrus-associated Alternaria species in Mediterranean areas[J]. PLoS One, 2016,11(9):e0163255.DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0163255.
[50]
MIYAMOTO Y, MASUNAKA A, TSUGE T, et al. Functional analysis of a multicopy host-selective ACT-toxin biosynjournal gene in the tangerine pathotype of Alternaria alternata using RNA silencing[J]. Mol Plant Microbe Interact, 2008,21(12):1591-1599.DOI: 10.1094/mpmi-21-12-1591.
Alternaria brown spot, caused by the tangerine pathotype of Alternaria alternata, is a serious disease of commercially important tangerines and their hybrids. The pathogen produces host-selective ACT toxin, and several genes (named ACTT) responsible for ACT-toxin biosynthesis have been identified. These genes have many paralogs, which are clustered on a small, conditionally dispensable chromosome, making it difficult to disrupt entire functional copies of ACTT genes using homologous recombination-mediated gene disruption. To overcome this problem, we attempted to use RNA silencing, which has never been employed in Alternaria spp., to knock down the functional copies of one ACTT gene with a single silencing event. ACTT2, which encodes a putative hydrolase and is present in multiple copies in the genome, was silenced by transforming the fungus with a plasmid construct expressing hairpin ACTT2 RNAs. The ACTT2 RNA-silenced transformant (S-7-24-2) completely lost ACTT2 transcripts and ACT-toxin production as well as pathogenicity. These results indicated that RNA silencing may be a useful technique for studying the role of ACTT genes responsible for host-selective toxin biosynthesis in A. alternata. Further, this technique may be broadly applicable to the analysis of many genes present in multiple copies in fungal genomes that are difficult to analyze using recombination-mediated knockdowns.
[51]
TANABE K, NISHIMURA S, KOHMOTO K. Pathogenicity of cutinase-and pectic enzymes-deficient mutants of Alternaria alternata Japanese pear pathotype[J]. Jpn J Phytopathol, 1988,54(4):552-555.DOI: 10.3186/jjphytopath.54.552.
[52]
DELLEDONNE M, ZEIER J, MAROCCO A, et al. Signal interactions between nitric oxide and reactive oxygen intermediates in the plant hypersensitive disease resistance response[J]. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 2001,98(23):13454-13459.DOI: 10.1073/pnas.231178298.
Nitric oxide (NO) and reactive oxygen intermediates (ROIs) play key roles in the activation of disease resistance mechanisms both in animals and plants. In animals NO cooperates with ROIs to kill tumor cells and for macrophage killing of bacteria. Such cytotoxic events occur because unregulated NO levels drive a diffusion-limited reaction with O(2)(-) to generate peroxynitrite (ONOO(-)), a mediator of cellular injury in many biological systems. Here we show that in soybean cells unregulated NO production at the onset of a pathogen-induced hypersensitive response (HR) is not sufficient to activate hypersensitive cell death. The HR is triggered only by balanced production of NO and ROIs. Moreover, hypersensitive cell death is activated after interaction of NO not with O(2)- but with H(2)O(2) generated from O(2)(-) by superoxide dismutase. Increasing the level of O(2)(-) reduces NO-mediated toxicity, and ONOO(-) is not a mediator of hypersensitive cell death. During the HR, superoxide dismutase accelerates O(2)(-) dismutation to H(2)O(2) to minimize the loss of NO by reaction with O(2)(-) and to trigger hypersensitive cell death through NO/H(2)O(2) cooperation. However, O(2)(-) rather than H(2)O(2) is the primary ROI signal for pathogen induction of glutathione S-transferase, and the rates of production and dismutation of O(2)(-) generated during the oxidative burst play a crucial role in the modulation and integration of NO/H(2)O(2) signaling in the HR. Thus although plants and animals use a similar repertoire of signals in disease resistance, ROIs and NO are deployed in strikingly different ways to trigger host cell death.
[53]
RODRÍGUEZ-PALENZUELA P, MATAS I M, MURILLO J, et al. Annotation and overview of the Pseudomonas savastanoi pv.savastanoi NCPPB 3335 draft genome reveals the virulence gene complement of a tumour-inducing pathogen of woody hosts[J]. Environ Microbiol, 2010,12(6):1604-1620.DOI: 10.1111/j.1462-2920.2010.02207.x.
Pseudomonas savastanoi pv. savastanoi is a tumour-inducing pathogen of Olea europaea L. causing olive knot disease. Bioinformatic analysis of the draft genome sequence of strain NCPPB 3335, which encodes 5232 predicted coding genes on a total length of 5856 998 bp and a 57.12% G + C, revealed a large degree of conservation with Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola 1448A and P. syringae pv. tabaci 11528. However, NCPPB 3335 contains twelve variable genomic regions, which are absent in all previously sequenced P. syringae strains. Various features that could contribute to the ability of this strain to survive in a woody host were identified, including broad catabolic and transport capabilities for degrading plant-derived aromatic compounds, the duplication of sequences related to the biosynthesis of the phytohormone indoleacetic acid (iaaM, iaaH) and its amino acid conjugate indoleacetic acid-lysine (iaaL gene), and the repertoire of strain-specific putative type III secretion system effectors. Access to this seventh genome sequence belonging to the 'P. syringae complex' allowed us to identify 73 predicted coding genes that are NCPPB 3335-specific. Results shown here provide the basis for detailed functional analysis of a tumour-inducing pathogen of woody hosts and for the study of specific adaptations of a P. savastanoi pathovar.
[54]
DELLEDONNE M, XIA Y J, DIXON R A, et al. Nitric oxide functions as a signal in plant disease resistance[J]. Nature, 1998,394(6693):585-588.DOI: 10.1038/29087.
Recognition of an avirulent pathogen triggers the rapid production of the reactive oxygen intermediates superoxide (O2-) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). This oxidative burst drives crosslinking of the cell wall, induces several plant genes involved in cellular protection and defence, and is necessary for the initiation of host cell death in the hypersensitive disease-resistance response. However, this burst is not enough to support a strong disease-resistance response. Here we show that nitric oxide, which acts as a signal in the immune, nervous and vascular systems, potentiates the induction of hypersensitive cell death in soybean cells by reactive oxygen intermediates and functions independently of such intermediates to induce genes for the synthesis of protective natural products. Moreover, inhibitors of nitric oxide synthesis compromise the hypersensitive disease-resistance response of Arabidopsis leaves to Pseudomonas syringae, promoting disease and bacterial growth. We conclude that nitric oxide plays a key role in disease resistance in plants.
[55]
ALKAN N, MENG X, FRIEDLANDER G, et al. Global aspects of pacC regulation of pathogenicity genes in Colletotrichum gloeosporioides as revealed by transcriptome analysis[J]. Mol Plant Microbe Interact, 2013,26(11):1345-1358.DOI: 10.1094/mpmi-03-13-0080-r.
Colletotrichum gloeosporioides alkalinizes its surroundings during colonization of host tissue. The transcription factor pacC is a regulator of pH-controlled genes and is essential for successful colonization. We present here the sequence assembly of the Colletotrichum fruit pathogen and use it to explore the global regulation of pathogenicity by ambient pH. The assembled genome size was 54 Mb, encoding 18,456 genes. Transcriptomes of the wild type and DeltapacC mutant were established by RNA-seq and explored for their global pH-dependent gene regulation. The analysis showed that pacC upregulates 478 genes and downregulates 483 genes, comprising 5% of the fungal genome, including transporters, antioxidants, and cell-wall-degrading enzymes. Interestingly, gene families with similar functionality are both up- and downregulated by pacC. Global analysis of secreted genes showed significant pacC activation of degradative enzymes at alkaline pH and during fruit infection. Select genes from alkalizing-type pathogen C. gloeosporioides and from acidifying-type pathogen Sclerotinia sclerotiorum were verified by quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction analysis at different pH values. Knock out of several pacC-activated genes confirmed their involvement in pathogenic colonization of alkalinized surroundings. The results suggest a global regulation by pacC of key pathogenicity genes during pH change in alkalinizing and acidifying pathogens.
[56]
YAKOBY N, BENO-MOUALEM D, KEEN N T, et al. Colletotrichum gloeosporioides pelB is an important virulence factor in avocado fruit-fungus interaction[J]. Mol Plant Microbe Interact, 2001,14(8):988-995.DOI: 10.1094/mpmi.2001.14.8.988.
Colletotrichum gloeosporioides is an important pathogen of tropical and subtropical fruits. The C. gloeosporioides pelB gene was disrupted in the fungus via homologous recombination. Three independent isolates, GD-14, GD-23, and GD-29, did not produce or secrete pectate lyase B (PLB) and exhibited 25% lower pectate lyase (PL) and pectin lyase (PNL) activities and 15% higher polygalacturonase (PG) activity than the wild type. The PLB mutants exhibited no growth reduction on glucose, Na polypectate, or pectin as the sole carbon source at pH 3.8 or 6.0, except for a 15% reduction on pectin at pH 6.0. When pelB mutants were inoculated onto avocado fruits, however, a 36 to 45% reduction in estimated decay diameter was observed compared with the two controls, the wild type and undisrupted transformed isolate. In addition, these pelB mutants induced a significantly higher host phenylalanine ammonia lyase activity as well as the antifungal diene, which is indicative of higher host resistance. These results suggest that PLB is an important factor in the attack of C. gloeosporioides on avocado fruit, probably as a result of its virulence factor and role in the induction of host defense mechanisms.
[57]
WANG Y Y, WANG Y L. Oxalic acid metabolism contributes to full virulence and pycnidial development in the poplar canker fungus Cytospora chrysosperma[J]. Phytopathology, 2020,110(7):1319-1325.DOI: 10.1094/PHYTO-10-19-0381-R.
Poplar Cytospora canker, which is mainly caused by Cytospora chrysosperma, is one of the most destructive and widespread tree diseases worldwide. Although oxalic acid (OA) is demonstrated as an important virulence determinant in several necrotrophic fungi, specific functions of OA during pathogenesis remain controversial. Here, we identified three genes (CcOah, CcOdc1, and CcOdc2) directly involved in OA biosynthesis and catabolism in C. chrysosperma. We demonstrated that CcOah is required for OA biogenesis. All three genes were found to be highly upregulated during early infection stages of the poplar stem. The deletion of any of the three genes led to an obvious reduction of pycnidial production but no abnormality of hyphal growth and morphology. Furthermore, the individual deletion strain exhibited significantly limited lesion sizes on poplar twigs and leaves. Exogenous application of OA or citric acid can complement the virulence defects of DeltaCcOah and DeltaCcOdc1 strains. We further found that the DeltaCcOah strain strongly promoted reactive oxygen species burst of poplar leaves during infection. Finally, induced secretion of OA was observed by monitoring color change of the plates after poplar stem extracts were added in the cultures; however, we failed to quantify OA concentration by high-performance liquid chromatography. Taken together, the present results provide insights into the function of OA acting as an important virulence factor of C. chrysosperma.
[58]
YU C, LI T, SHI X, et al. Deletion of endo-β-1,4-xylanase VmXyl1 impacts the virulence of Valsa mali in apple tree[J]. Front Plant Sci, 2018,9:663.DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2018.00663.
Valsa mali, a parasitic fungus, is a destructive pathogen of apple tree that causes heavy economic losses in China. The pathogen secretes various cell wall-degrading enzymes (CWDEs) that degrade plant cell-wall components, and thus facilitate its entry into host cells. Therefore, functional analysis of the genes encoding CWDEs is necessary to understand virulence of V. mali toward apple tree. Here, we identified and cloned an endo-beta-1,4-xylanase gene, VmXyl1 in V. mali. The full-length cDNA of VmXyl1 is 1626 bp containing 5'- and 3'-non-coding regions, as well an open reading frame of 1320 bp that encodes a protein with a calculated molecular mass and an isoelectric point of 43.8 kDa and 4.4, respectively. The predicted amino acid sequences showed significant homology to a family GH10 of glycosyl hydrolases. The apple branch extract and beechwood xylan, but not glucose, induced the expression of VmXyl1. Furthermore, VmXyl1 had high expression levels in the apple tree bark during the pathogen infection. The deletion of VmXyl1 did not affect mycelia growth; however, it significantly reduced pycnidia formation in V. mali. The deletion strains showed a reduced virulence toward apple leaves and twigs. Moreover, the mutant strains had reduced endo-beta-1,4-xylanase activity and growth when cultured using beechwood xylan as the only carbon source. Reintroducing wild-type VmXyl1 into the mutant strains rescued the defect phenotype. We conclude that VmXyl1 determines the virulence of V. mali toward apple tree. These results provide valuable insight into the plant-pathogen molecular interactions.
[59]
WU Y, XU L, YIN Z, et al. Two members of the velvet family,VmVeA and VmVelB,affect conidiation,virulence and pectinase expression in Valsa mali[J]. Mol Plant Pathol, 2018,19(7):1639-1651.DOI: 10.1111/mpp.12645.
Velvet protein family members are important fungal-specific regulators which are involved in conidial development, secondary metabolism and virulence. To gain a broader insight into the physiological functions of the velvet protein family of Valsa mali, which causes a highly destructive canker disease on apple, we conducted a functional analysis of two velvet protein family members (VmVeA and VmVelB) via a gene replacement strategy. Deletion mutants of VmVeA and VmVelB showed increased melanin production, conidiation and sensitivity to abiotic stresses, but exhibited reduced virulence on detached apple leaves and twigs. Further studies demonstrated that the regulation of conidiation by VmVeA and VmVelB was positively correlated with the melanin synthesis transcription factor VmCmr1. More importantly, transcript levels of pectinase genes were shown to be decreased in deletion mutants compared with those of the wild-type during infection. However, the expression of other cell wall-degrading enzyme genes, including cellulase, hemi-cellulase and ligninase genes, was not affected in the deletion mutants. Furthermore, the determination of pectinase activity and immunogold labelling of pectin demonstrated that the capacity for pectin degradation was attenuated as a result of deletions of VmVeA and VmVelB. Finally, the interaction of VmVeA with VmVelB was identified through co-immunoprecipitation assays. VmVeA and VmVelB play critical roles in conidiation and virulence, probably via the regulation of the melanin synthesis transcription factor VmCmr1 and their effect on pectinase gene expression in V. mali, respectively.
[60]
WU YX, XU L S, LIU J, et al. A mitogen-activated protein kinase gene (VmPmk1) regulates virulence and cell wall degrading enzyme expression in Valsa mali[J]. Microb Pathog, 2017,111:298-306.DOI: 10.1016/j.micpath.2017.09.003.
Mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) play critical roles in the regulation of different developmental processes and hydrolytic enzyme production in many fungal plant pathogens. In this study, an FUS3/KSS1-related MAPK gene, VmPmk1, was identified and characterized in Valsa mali, which causes a highly destructive canker disease on apple. VmPmk1 deletion mutant showed a significant reduction in growth rate in vitro, and could not produce pycnidium, indicating that the MAPK gene is important for growth and asexual development. Also, VmPmk1 played a significant role in response to oxidative stress and in the maintenance of cell wall integrity. More importantly, when deletion mutant was inoculated onto detached apple leaves and twigs, an obvious decrease in lesion size was observed. Furthermore, expression of many cell wall degrading enzyme (CWDE) genes declined in the VmPmk1 deletion mutant during infection. VmPmk1 deletion mutant also showed a significant reduction in activities of CWDEs in both induced media and infection process. Finally, the determination of immunogold labeling of pectin demonstrated that the capacity of degradation pectin was attenuated due to the deletion of VmPmk1. These results indicated that VmPmk1 plays important roles in growth, asexual development, response to oxidative stress, and maintenance of cell wall integrity. More importantly, VmPmk1 is involved in pathogenicity of V. mali mainly by regulating CWDE genes expression.
[61]
YIN Z, LIU H, LI Z, et al. Genome sequence of Valsa canker pathogens uncovers a potential adaptation of colonization of woody bark[J]. New Phytol, 2015,208(4):1202-1216.DOI: 10.1111/nph.13544.
Canker caused by ascomycetous Valsa species are among the most destructive diseases of woody plants worldwide. These pathogens are distinct from other pathogens because they only effectively attack tree bark in the field. To unravel the potential adaptation mechanism of bark colonization, we examined the genomes of Valsa mali and Valsa pyri that preferentially infect apple and pear, respectively. We reported the 44.7 and 35.7 Mb genomes of V. mali and V. pyri, respectively. We also identified the potential genomic determinants of wood colonization by comparing them with related cereal pathogens. Both genomes encode a plethora of pathogenicity-related genes involved in plant cell wall degradation and secondary metabolite biosynthesis. In order to adapt to the nutrient limitation and low pH environment in bark, they seem to employ membrane transporters associated with nitrogen uptake and secrete proteases predominantly with acidic pH optima. Remarkably, both Valsa genomes are especially suited for pectin decomposition, but are limited in lignocellulose and cutin degradation. Besides many similarities, the two genomes show distinct variations in many secondary metabolism gene clusters. Our results show a potential adaptation of Valsa canker pathogens to colonize woody bark. Secondary metabolism gene clusters are probably responsible for this host specificity.
[62]
CHEN L H, LIN C H, CHUNG K R. Roles for SKN7 response regulator in stress resistance,conidiation and virulence in the Citrus pathogen Alternaria alternata[J]. Fungal Genet Biol, 2012,49(10):802-813.DOI: 10.1016/j.fgb.2012.07.006.
"Two-component" histidine kinase (HSK1) is the primary regulator of resistance to sugar osmotic stress and sensitivity to dicarboximide or phenylpyrrole fungicides in the citrus fungal pathogen Alternaria alternata. On the other hand, the mitogen-activated protein kinase HOG1 confers resistance solely to salts and oxidative stress. We report here independent and shared functions of the SKN7-mediated signaling pathway with HSK1 and HOG1. SKN7, a putative transcription downstream regulator of HSK1, is primarily required for cellular resistance to oxidative and sugar-induced osmotic stress. SKN7, perhaps acting in parallel with HOG1, is required for resistance to H2O2, tert-butyl hydroperoxide, and cumyl peroxide, but not to the superoxide-generating compounds - menadione, potassium superoxide, and diamide. Because of phenotypic commonalities, SKN7 is likely involved in resistance to sugar-induced osmotic stress via the HSK1 signaling pathway. However, mutants lacking SKN7 displayed wild-type sensitivity to NaCl and KCl salts. SKN7 is constitutively localized in the nucleus regardless of H2O2 treatment. When compared to the wild type, skn7 mutants exhibited lower catalase, peroxidase, and superoxide dismutase activities and induced significantly fewer necrotic lesions on the susceptible citrus cultivar. The skn7 mutant exhibited fungicide resistance at levels between the hsk1 and the hog1 mutant strains. Skn7/hog1 double mutants exhibited fungicide resistance, similar to the strain with a single AaHSK1 gene mutation. Moreover, the A. alternata SKN7 plays a role in conidia formation. Conidia produced by the skn7 mutant are smaller and have fewer transverse septae than those produced by wild type. All altered phenotypes in the mutant were restored by introducing and expressing a wild-type copy of SKN7 under control of the endogenous promoter. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc.
[63]
CHEN L H, YANG S L, CHUNG K R. Resistance to oxidative stress via regulating siderophore-mediated iron acquisition by the Citrus fungal pathogen Alternaria alternata[J]. Microbiology (Reading), 2014,160(pt 5):970-979.DOI: 10.1099/mic.0.076182-0.
[64]
CHUNG K R. Reactive oxygen species in the Citrus fungal pathogen Alternaria alternata:The roles of NADPH-dependent oxidase[J]. Physiol Mol Plant Pathol, 2014,88:10-17.DOI: 10.1016/j.pmpp.2014.08.001.
[65]
LIN C H, YANG S L, CHUNG K R. Cellular responses required for oxidative stress tolerance,colonization,and lesion formation by the necrotrophic fungus Alternaria alternata in Citrus[J]. Curr Microbiol, 2011,62(3):807-815.DOI: 10.1007/s00284-010-9795-y.
The pathogenic capability of the tangerine pathotype of Alternaria alternata relies on the production of host-selective ACT toxin. Inoculation of A. alternata in leaves of the citrus quickly induced rapid lipid peroxidation, accumulation of hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)), and cell death, indicative of host defensive response. We previously demonstrated an essential role of the A. alternata AaAP1 gene, encoding a redox-responsive YAP1-like transcription factor, to contribute to fungal pathogenicity. The AaAP1 null mutant fails to incite necrotic lesions. In this study, we show further that the fungal mutant defective at the AaAP1 locus displayed reduced activities for glutathione-S-transferase, glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase, and ligninolytic peroxidase, yet retained normal production of ACT toxin. In contrast to the wild-type progenitor and the genetically reverted strain, the mutant strain was unable to detoxify H(2)O(2) effectively and was killed upon exposure to H(2)O(2). The mutant strain induced lower levels of H(2)O(2) accumulation in citrus leaves, compared to those induced by the wild-type or by the genetically reverted strain. Upon exposure to H(2)O(2), A. alternata apparently changed expression of a wide array of the genes regulated by AaAP1. Thus, the impairment of the AaAP1 null mutants to incite necrotic lesions is apparently a consequence of their inability to alleviate the toxicity of ROS, and circumvention of plant defenses is important for the disease process.
[66]
YANG S L, CHUNG K R. Similar and distinct roles of NADPH oxidase components in the tangerine pathotype of Alternaria alternata[J]. Mol Plant Pathol, 2013,14(6):543-556.DOI: 10.1111/mpp.12026.
The fungal nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase (Nox) complex, which has been implicated in the production of low-level reactive oxygen species (ROS), contains mainly NoxA, NoxB (gp91(phox) homologues) and NoxR (p67(phox) homologue). Here, we report the developmental and pathological functions of NoxB and NoxR in the tangerine pathotype of Alternaria alternata. Loss-of-function genetics revealed that all three Nox components are required for the accumulation of cellular hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Alternaria alternata strains lacking NoxA, NoxB or NoxR also displayed an increased sensitivity to H2O2 and many ROS-generating oxidants. These phenotypes are highly similar to those previously seen for the yap1 mutant lacking a YAP1 transcriptional regulator and for the hog1 mutant lacking a HOG1 mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase, implicating a possible link among them. A fungal strain carrying a NoxA NoxB or NoxA NoxR double mutation was more sensitive to the test compounds than the strain mutated at a single gene, implicating a synergistic function among Nox components. The noxB mutant strain failed to produce any conidia; both noxA and noxR mutant strains showed a severe reduction in sporulation. Mutant strains carrying defective NoxB had higher chitin content than the wild-type and were insensitive to calcofluor white, Congo red and the fungicides vinclozolin and fludioxonil. Virulence assays revealed that all three Nox components are required for the elaboration of the penetration process. The inability to penetrate the citrus host, observed for nox mutants, could be overcome by wounding and by reacquiring a dominant Nox gene. The A.alternataNoxR did not influence the expression of NoxB, but negatively regulated NoxA. Importantly, the expression of both YAP1 and HOG1 genes, whose products are involved in resistance to ROS, was down-regulated in fungi carrying defective NoxA, NoxB or NoxR. Our results highlight the requirement of Nox in ROS resistance and provide insights into its critical role in regulating both YAP1 and HOG1 in A.alternata.
[67]
YU P L, CHEN L H, CHUNG K R. How the pathogenic fungus Alternaria alternata copes with stress via the response regulators SSK1 and SHO1[J]. PLoS One, 2016,11(2):e0149153.DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0149153.
The tangerine pathotype of Alternaria alternata is a necrotrophic fungal pathogen causing brown spot disease on a number of citrus cultivars. To better understand the dynamics of signal regulation leading to oxidative and osmotic stress response and fungal infection on citrus, phenotypic characterization of the yeast SSK1 response regulator homolog was performed. It was determined that SSK1 responds to diverse environmental stimuli and plays a critical role in fungal pathogenesis. Experiments to determine the phenotypes resulting from the loss of SSK1 reveal that the SSK1 gene product may be fulfilling similar regulatory roles in signaling pathways involving a HOG1 MAP kinase during ROS resistance, osmotic resistance, fungicide sensitivity and fungal virulence. The SSK1 mutants display elevated sensitivity to oxidants, fail to detoxify H2O2 effectively, induce minor necrosis on susceptible citrus leaves, and displays resistance to dicarboximide and phenylpyrrole fungicides. Unlike the SKN7 response regulator, SSK1 and HOG1 confer resistance to salt-induced osmotic stress via an unknown kinase sensor rather than the
[68]
YANG S L, YU P L, CHUNG K R. The glutathione peroxidase-mediated reactive oxygen species resistance,fungicide sensitivity and cell wall construction in the Citrus fungal pathogen Alternaria alternata[J]. Environ Microbiol, 2016,18(3):923-935.DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.13125.
The ability to detoxify reactive oxygen species (ROS) is critical for pathogenicity in the necrotrophic fungus Alternaria alternata. We report a glutathione peroxidase 3 (AaGPx3) involved in the complex signalling network that is essential for the detoxification of cellular stresses induced by ROS and for A. alternata pathogenesis in citrus. AaGPx3 deletion mutants displayed increased sensitivity to H2 O2 and many ROS-generating compounds. AaGPx3 is required for correct fungal development as the AaGPx3 mutant strains showed a severe reduction in conidiation. AaGPx3 mutants accumulated higher chitin content than the wild-type and were less sensitive to the cell wall-targeting compounds calcofluor white and Congo red, as well as the fungicides fludioxonil and vinclozolin, suggesting a role of the glutathione systems in fungal cell wall construction. Virulence assays revealed that AaGPx3 is required for full virulence. The expression of AaGPx3 was downregulated in fungal strains carrying defective NADPH oxidase (Nox) or the oxidative stress responsive regulators YAP1 and HOG1, all implicated in ROS resistance. These results further support the important role of ROS detoxification during A. alternata pathogenesis in citrus. Overall, our study provides genetic evidence to define the central role of AaGPx3 in the biological and pathological functions of A. alternata.
[69]
SUN Y, WANG Y, TIAN C. bZIP transcription factor CgAP1 is essential for oxidative stress tolerance and full virulence of the poplar anthracnose fungus Colletotrichum gloeosporioides[J]. Fungal Genet Biol, 2016,95:58-66.DOI: 10.1016/j.fgb.2016.08.006.
Yeast AP1 transcription factor is a regulator of oxidative stress response. Here, we report the identification and characterization of CgAP1, an ortholog of YAP1 in poplar anthracnose fungus Colletotrichum gloeosporioides. The expression of CgAP1 was highly induced by reactive oxygen species. CgAP1 deletion mutants displayed enhanced sensitivity to oxidative stress compared with the wild-type strain, and their poplar leaf virulence was obviously reduced. However, the mutants exhibited no obvious defects in aerial hyphal growth, conidia production, and appressoria formation. CgAP1::eGFP fusion protein localized to the nucleus after TBH (tert-Butyl hydroperoxide) treatment, suggesting that CgAP1 functions as a redox sensor in C. gloeosporioides. In addition, CgAP1 prevented the accumulation of ROS during early stages of biotrophic growth. CgAP1 also acted as a positive regulator of several ROS-related genes (i.e., Glr1, Hyr1, and Cyt1) involved in the antioxidative response. These results highlight the key regulatory role of CgAP1 transcription factor in oxidative stress response and provide insights into the function of ROS detoxification in virulence of C. gloeosporioides.
[70]
WANG X, XU X, LIANG Y, et al. A Cdc42 homolog in Colletotrichum gloeosporioides regulates morphological development and is required for ROS-mediated plant infection[J]. Curr Genet, 2018,64(5):1153-1169.DOI: 10.1007/s00294-018-0833-9.
The Rho GTPase Cdc42 is conserved in fungi and plays a key role in regulating polarity establishment, morphogenesis and differentiation. In this study, we identified an ortholog of Cdc42, CgCdc42, and functionally characterized it to determine the role of Cdc42 in the development and pathogenicity of Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, a causal agent of poplar anthracnose. Targeted deletion of CgCdc42 resulted in reduced vegetative growth and dramatic morphological defects, including the formation of elongated conidia and abnormally shaped appressoria. Moreover, CgCdc42 deletion mutants were less virulent on poplar leaves than were wild type. Appressoria formed by DeltaCgCdc42 mutants were morphologically abnormal and present in lower numbers on poplar leaves than were those formed by wild type. However, an ROS scavenging assay indicated that the DeltaCgCdc42 mutants maintained wild type pathogenicity in the absence of ROS despite having fewer appressoria than wild type, suggesting that the DeltaCgCdc42 mutants were deficient in their tolerance of ROS. Additionally, we also found that the distribution of ROS was different after the deletion of CgCdc42, the DeltaCgCdc42 mutants were hypersensitive to H2O2, and transcriptional analysis revealed that CgCdc42 is involved in the regulation of ROS-related genes. Furthermore, loss of CgCdc42 caused defects in cell wall integrity and an uneven distribution of chitin. These data collectively suggest that CgCdc42 plays an important role in the regulation of vegetative growth, morphological development, cell wall integrity and ROS-mediated plant infection in C. gloeosporioides.
[71]
韦运谢. 芒果炭疽病菌漆酶基因Lac1的克隆与致病相关功能鉴定[D]. 海口:海南大学, 2014.
WEI Y X. Coloning and functional identification of laccase gene(Lac1) in pathogenicity from Colletotrichum gloeosporioides-the pathogen of mango anthracnose disease[D]. Haikou:Hainan University, 2014.
[72]
TANG C, JIN X J, KLOSTERMAN S J, et al. Convergent and distinctive functions of transcription factors VdYap1,VdAtf1,and VdSkn7 in the regulation of nitrosative stress resistance,microsclerotia formation,and virulence in Verticillium dahliae[J]. Mol Plant Pathol, 2020,21(11):1451-1466.DOI: 10.1111/mpp.12988.
Reactive oxygen/nitrogen species (ROS/RNS) play a fundamental role in plant-fungal interactions. How pathogenic fungi manipulate plant-derived ROS/RNS is of importance to the outcomes of these interactions. In this study, we explored the individual and combined contributions of three transcription factors, VdAtf1, VdYap1, and VdSkn7, in the response to ROS/RNS, microsclerotia formation, and virulence in the plant wilt pathogen Verticillium dahliae. We showed that VdYap1 is essential for ROS response. Additionally, mutants lacking any combination of the three genes shared significant hypersensitivity to nitro-oxidative stress like sodium nitroprusside dehydrate and double deletions lacking VdYap1 and VdAtf1 resulted in further increased sensitivity to ROS. Double deletion of VdAtf1 and VdSkn7 reduced melanin production and virulence while simultaneous lack of VdSkn7 and VdYap1 disrupted nitrogen metabolism and ROS resistance. Finally, comparison of transcriptional profiles of the respective single or double mutants in response to nitro-oxidative stress revealed that the three transcription factors are involved in denitrification of nitrated alkanes and lipids to protect against nitro-oxidative stress. Taken together, our results demonstrate convergent and distinctive functions of VdYap1, VdAtf1, and VdSkn7 in V. dahliae, and provide new data on their roles in response to ROS/RNS in fungi.
[73]
DE GUILLEN K, LORRAIN C, TSAN P, et al. Structural genomics applied to the rust fungus Melampsora larici-Populina reveals two candidate effector proteins adopting cystine knot and NTF2-like protein folds[J]. Sci Rep, 2019,9(1):18084.DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-53816-9.
Rust fungi are plant pathogens that secrete an arsenal of effector proteins interfering with plant functions and promoting parasitic infection. Effectors are often species-specific, evolve rapidly, and display low sequence similarities with known proteins. How rust fungal effectors function in host cells remains elusive, and biochemical and structural approaches have been scarcely used to tackle this question. In this study, we produced recombinant proteins of eleven candidate effectors of the leaf rust fungus Melampsora larici-populina in Escherichia coli. We successfully purified and solved the three-dimensional structure of two proteins, MLP124266 and MLP124017, using NMR spectroscopy. Although both MLP124266 and MLP124017 show no sequence similarity with known proteins, they exhibit structural similarities to knottins, which are disulfide-rich small proteins characterized by intricate disulfide bridges, and to nuclear transport factor 2-like proteins, which are molecular containers involved in a wide range of functions, respectively. Interestingly, such structural folds have not been reported so far in pathogen effectors, indicating that MLP124266 and MLP124017 may bear novel functions related to pathogenicity. Our findings show that sequence-unrelated effectors can adopt folds similar to known proteins, and encourage the use of biochemical and structural approaches to functionally characterize effector candidates.
[74]
AHMED M B, SANTOS K C G D, SANCHEZ I B, et al. A rust fungal effector binds plant DNA and modulates transcription[J]. Sci Rep, 2018,8(1):14718.DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-32825-0.
The basidiomycete Melampsora larici-populina causes poplar rust disease by invading leaf tissues and secreting effector proteins through specialized infection structures known as haustoria. The mechanisms by which rust effectors promote pathogen virulence are poorly understood. The present study characterized Mlp124478, a candidate effector of M. larici-populina. We used the models Arabidopsis thaliana and Nicotiana benthamiana to investigate the function of Mlp124478 in plant cells. We established that Mlp124478 accumulates in the nucleus and nucleolus, however its nucleolar accumulation is not required to promote growth of the oomycete pathogen Hyaloperonospora arabidopsidis. Stable constitutive expression of Mlp124478 in A. thaliana repressed the expression of genes involved in immune responses, and also altered leaf morphology by increasing the waviness of rosette leaves. Chip-PCR experiments showed that Mlp124478 associats'e with the TGA1a-binding DNA sequence. Our results suggest that Mlp124478 exerts a virulence activity and binds the TGA1a promoter to suppress genes induced in response to pathogen infection.
[75]
刘霞, 陶思齐, 翁涵, 等. 山田胶锈菌和亚洲胶锈菌吸器提取体系建立[J]. 菌物学报, 2019,38(9):1430-1439.
LIU X, TAO S Q, WENG H, et al. Construction of haustorial isolation systems of Gymnosporangium yamadae and G.asiaticum[J]. Mycosystema, 2019,38(9),38:1430-1439.DOI: 10.13346/j.mycosystema.190049.
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HUANG X H, XU F, CHENG H, et al. Recent advances of transcriptome sequencing in higher plants[J]. J Huanggang Norm Univ, 2014,34(6):28-35.
[79]
牛春阳, 李丹蕾, 王峰, 等. 基于转录组的欧美杨Pnd-WRKY3基因克隆及其抗锈菌表达[J]. 东北林业大学学报, 2015,43(9):1-5.
NIU C Y, LI D L, WANG F, et al. Isolation and Isolation and expression of pnd-WRKY3 transcription factor gene from poplar(Populus nigra × P.deltoides)[J]. J Northeast For Univ, 2015,43(9),43:1-5.DOI: 10.13759/j.cnki.dlxb.20150721.002.
[80]
PETRE B, HACQUARD S, DUPLESSIS S, et al. Genome analysis of poplar LRR-RLP gene clusters reveals RISP,a defense-related gene coding a candidate endogenous peptide elicitor[J]. Front Plant Sci, 2014,5:111.DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2014.00111.
In plants, cell-surface receptors control immunity and development through the recognition of extracellular ligands. Leucine-rich repeat receptor-like proteins (LRR-RLPs) constitute a large multigene family of cell-surface receptors. Although this family has been intensively studied, a limited number of ligands has been identified so far, mostly because methods used for their identification and characterization are complex and fastidious. In this study, we combined genome and transcriptome analyses to describe the LRR-RLP gene family in the model tree poplar (Populus trichocarpa). In total, 82 LRR-RLP genes have been identified in P. trichocarpa genome, among which 66 are organized in clusters of up to seven members. In these clusters, LRR-RLP genes are interspersed by orphan, poplar-specific genes encoding small proteins of unknown function (SPUFs). In particular, the nine largest clusters of LRR-RLP genes (47 LRR-RLPs) include 71 SPUF genes that account for 59% of the non-LRR-RLP gene content within these clusters. Forty-four LRR-RLP and 55 SPUF genes are expressed in poplar leaves, mostly at low levels, except for members of some clusters that show higher and sometimes coordinated expression levels. Notably, wounding of poplar leaves strongly induced the expression of a defense SPUF gene named Rust-Induced Secreted protein (RISP) that has been previously reported as a marker of poplar defense responses. Interestingly, we show that the RISP-associated LRR-RLP gene is highly expressed in poplar leaves and slightly induced by wounding. Both gene promoters share a highly conserved region of ~300 nucleotides. This led us to hypothesize that the corresponding pair of proteins could be involved in poplar immunity, possibly as a ligand/receptor couple. In conclusion, we speculate that some poplar SPUFs, such as RISP, represent candidate endogenous peptide ligands of the associated LRR-RLPs and we discuss how to investigate further this hypothesis.
[81]
TAO SQ, CAO B, TIAN C M, et al. Comparative transcriptome analysis and identification of candidate effectors in two related rust species (Gymnosporangium yamadae and Gymnosporangium asiaticum)[J]. BMC Genomics, 2017,18(1):651.DOI: 10.1186/s12864-017-4059-x.
BACKGROUND: Rust fungi constitute the largest group of plant fungal pathogens. However, a paucity of data, including genomic sequences, transcriptome sequences, and associated molecular markers, hinders the development of inhibitory compounds and prevents their analysis from an evolutionary perspective. Gymnosporangium yamadae and G. asiaticum are two closely related rust fungal species, which are ecologically and economically important pathogens that cause apple rust and pear rust, respectively, proved to be devastating to orchards. In this study, we investigated the transcriptomes of these two Gymnosporangium species during the telial stage of their lifecycles. The aim of this study was to understand the evolutionary patterns of these two related fungi and to identify genes that developed by selection. RESULTS: The transcriptomes of G. yamadae and G. asiaticum were generated from a mixture of RNA from three biological replicates of each species. We obtained 49,318 and 54,742 transcripts, with N50 values of 1957 and 1664, for G. yamadae and G. asiaticum, respectively. We also identified a repertoire of candidate effectors and other gene families associated with pathogenicity. A total of 4947 pairs of putative orthologues between the two species were identified. Estimation of the non-synonymous/synonymous substitution rate ratios for these orthologues identified 116 pairs with Ka/Ks values greater than1 that are under positive selection and 170 pairs with Ka/Ks values of 1 that are under neutral selection, whereas the remaining 4661 genes are subjected to purifying selection. We estimate that the divergence time between the two species is approximately 5.2 Mya. CONCLUSION: This study constitutes a de novo assembly and comparative analysis between the transcriptomes of the two rust species G. yamadae and G. asiaticum. The results identified several orthologous genes, and many expressed genes were identified by annotation. Our analysis of Ka/Ks ratios identified orthologous genes subjected to positive or purifying selection. An evolutionary analysis of these two species provided a relatively precise divergence time. Overall, the information obtained in this study increases the genetic resources available for research on the genetic diversity of the Gymnosporangium genus.
[82]
ZENG Z, SUN H, VAINIO E J, et al. Intraspecific comparative genomics of isolates of the Norway spruce pathogen (Heterobasidion parviporum) and identification of its potential virulence factors[J]. BMC Genomics, 2018,19(1):220.DOI: 10.1186/s12864-018-4610-4.
BACKGROUND: Heterobasidion parviporum is an economically most important fungal forest pathogen in northern Europe, causing root and butt rot disease of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.). The mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis and virulence of this species remain elusive. No reference genome to facilitate functional analysis is available for this species. RESULTS: To better understand the virulence factor at both phenotypic and genomic level, we characterized 15 H. parviporum isolates originating from different locations across Finland for virulence, vegetative growth, sporulation and saprotrophic wood decay. Wood decay capability and latitude of fungal origins exerted interactive effects on their virulence and appeared important for H. parviporum virulence. We sequenced the most virulent isolate, the first full genome sequences of H. parviporum as a reference genome, and re-sequenced the remaining 14 H. parviporum isolates. Genome-wide alignments and intrinsic polymorphism analysis showed that these isolates exhibited overall high genomic similarity with an average of at least 96% nucleotide identity when compared to the reference, yet had remarkable intra-specific level of polymorphism with a bias for CpG to TpG mutations. Reads mapping coverage analysis enabled the classification of all predicted genes into five groups and uncovered two genomic regions exclusively present in the reference with putative contribution to its higher virulence. Genes enriched for copy number variations (deletions and duplications) and nucleotide polymorphism were involved in oxidation-reduction processes and encoding domains relevant to transcription factors. Some secreted protein coding genes based on the genome-wide selection pressure, or the presence of variants were proposed as potential virulence candidates. CONCLUSION: Our study reported on the first reference genome sequence for this Norway spruce pathogen (H. parviporum). Comparative genomics analysis gave insight into the overall genomic variation among this fungal species and also facilitated the identification of several secreted protein coding genes as putative virulence factors for the further functional analysis. We also analyzed and identified phenotypic traits potentially linked to its virulence.
[83]
CHEN C, YAO Y, ZHANG L, et al. A comprehensive analysis of the transcriptomes of Marssonina brunnea and infected poplar leaves to capture vital events in host-pathogen interactions[J]. PLoS One, 2015,10(7):e0134246.DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0134246.
BACKGROUND: Understanding host-pathogen interaction mechanisms helps to elucidate the entire infection process and focus on important events, and it is a promising approach for improvement of disease control and selection of treatment strategy. Time-course host-pathogen transcriptome analyses and network inference have been applied to unravel the direct or indirect relationships of gene expression alterations. However, time series analyses can suffer from absent time points due to technical problems such as RNA degradation, which limits the application of algorithms that require strict sequential sampling. Here, we introduce an efficient method using independence test to infer an independent network that is exclusively concerned with the frequency of gene expression changes. RESULTS: Highly resistant NL895 poplar leaves and weakly resistant NL214 leaves were infected with highly active and weakly active Marssonina brunnea, respectively, and were harvested at different time points. The independent network inference illustrated the top 1,000 vital fungus-poplar relationships, which contained 768 fungal genes and 54 poplar genes. These genes could be classified into three categories: a fungal gene surrounded by many poplar genes; a poplar gene connected to many fungal genes; and other genes (possessing low degrees of connectivity). Notably, the fungal gene M6_08342 (a metalloprotease) was connected to 10 poplar genes, particularly including two disease-resistance genes. These core genes, which are surrounded by other genes, may be of particular importance in complicated infection processes and worthy of further investigation. CONCLUSIONS: We provide a clear framework of the interaction network and identify a number of candidate key effectors in this process, which might assist in functional tests, resistant clone selection, and disease control in the future.
[84]
田小敏. 基于转录组水平的苹果抗白粉病基因筛选与感病叶片生理指标分析[D]. 杨凌:西北农林科技大学, 2019.
TIAN X M. Study on physiological indicators response to powdery mildew of apple and screening of the resistant gene based on transcriptome analysis[D]. Yangling:Northwest A & F University, 2019.
[85]
周凌云, 刘红艳, 李维, 等. 基于转录组学分析茶叶与茶白星病菌的互作研究[C]// 成都:中国植物病理学会2019年学术年会论文集, 2019: 201.
[86]
祝友朋, 韩长志, 熊智. 核桃细菌性黑斑病菌分泌蛋白质的理化性质及特征分析[J]. 江苏农业学报, 2019,35(2):295-301.
ZHU Y P, HAN C Z, XIONG Z. Physicochemical properties and characteristic analysis of secretory proteins in walnut bacterial black spot pathogen[J]. Jiangsu J Agric Sci, 2019,35(2):295-301.DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1000-4440.2019.02.008.
[87]
THAPA S P, DE FRANCESCO A, TRINH J, et al. Genome-wide analyses of Liberibacter species provides insights into evolution,phylogenetic relationships,and virulence factors[J]. Mol Plant Pathol, 2020,21(5):716-731.DOI: 10.1111/mpp.12925.
'Candidatus Liberibacter' species are insect-transmitted, phloem-limited alpha-Proteobacteria in the order of Rhizobiales. The citrus industry is facing significant challenges due to huanglongbing, associated with infection from 'Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus' (Las). In order to gain greater insight into 'Ca. Liberibacter' biology and genetic diversity, we have performed genome sequencing and comparative analyses of diverse 'Ca. Liberibacter' species, including those that can infect citrus. Our phylogenetic analysis differentiates 'Ca. Liberibacter' species and Rhizobiales in separate clades and suggests stepwise evolution from a common ancestor splitting first into nonpathogenic Liberibacter crescens followed by diversification of pathogenic 'Ca. Liberibacter' species. Further analysis of Las genomes from different geographical locations revealed diversity among isolates from the United States. Our phylogenetic study also indicates multiple Las introduction events in California and spread of the pathogen from Florida to Texas. Texan Las isolates were closely related, while Florida and Asian isolates exhibited the most genetic variation. We have identified conserved Sec translocon (SEC)-dependent effectors likely involved in bacterial survival and virulence of Las and analysed their expression in their plant host (citrus) and insect vector (Diaphorina citri). Individual SEC-dependent effectors exhibited differential expression patterns between host and vector, indicating that Las uses its effector repertoire to differentially modulate diverse organisms. Collectively, this work provides insights into the evolution of 'Ca. Liberibacter' species, the introduction of Las in the United States and identifies promising Las targets for disease management.
[88]
AUSUBEL F M. Are innate immune signaling pathways in plants and animals conserved?[J]. Nat Immunol, 2005,6(10):973-979.DOI: 10.1038/ni1253.
Although adaptive immunity is unique to vertebrates, the innate immune response seems to have ancient origins. Common features of innate immunity in vertebrates, invertebrate animals and plants include defined receptors for microbe-associated molecules, conserved mitogen-associated protein kinase signaling cascades and the production of antimicrobial peptides. It is commonly reported that these similarities in innate immunity represent a process of divergent evolution from an ancient unicellular eukaryote that pre-dated the divergence of the plant and animal kingdoms. However, at present, data suggest that the seemingly analogous regulatory modules used in plant and animal innate immunity are a consequence of convergent evolution and reflect inherent constraints on how an innate immune system can be constructed.
[89]
SHI QC, FEBRES V J, JONES J B, et al. Responsiveness of different Citrus genotypes to theXanthomonas citrissp.citri-derived pathogen-associated molecular pattern (PAMP) flg22 correlates with resistance to Citrus canker[J]. Mol Plant Pathol, 2015,16(5):507-520.DOI: 10.1111/mpp.12206.
The bacterial agent of citrus canker disease (Xanthomonas citri ssp. citri, Xcc) has caused tremendous economic losses to the citrus industry around the world. Pathogen-associated molecular pattern (PAMP)-triggered immunity (PTI) is important to plant immunity. In this study, we compared the defence responses of citrus canker-resistant and citrus canker-susceptible genotypes to the Xcc-derived PAMP flg22 (Xflg22) by analysing the expression of 20 citrus defence-associated genes. We showed that, in the most resistant genotype, 'Nagami' kumquat, there was significant induction of several defence genes (EDS1, NDR1, PBS1, RAR1, SGT1, PAL1, NPR2 and NPR3) as early as 6 h and up to 72 h after Xflg22 treatment. At the other end of the spectrum, highly susceptible 'Duncan' grapefruit showed no induction of the same defence genes, even 120 h after treatment. Citrus genotypes with partial levels of resistance showed intermediate levels of transcriptional reprogramming that correlated with their resistance level. Xflg22 also triggered a rapid oxidative burst in all genotypes which was higher and accompanied by the induction of PTI marker genes (WRKY22 and GST1) only in the more resistant genotypes. Pretreatment with Xflg22 prior to Xcc inoculation inhibited bacterial growth in kumquat, but not in grapefruit. A flagellin-deficient Xcc strain (XccDeltafliC) showed greater growth increase relative to wild-type Xcc in kumquat than in grapefruit. Taken together, our results indicate that Xflg22 initiates strong PTI in canker-resistant genotypes, but not in susceptible ones, and that a robust induction of PTI is an important component of citrus resistance to canker.
[90]
GAO Z S, VAN DE WEG W E. The V _ f gene for scab resistance in apple is linked to sub-lethal genes[J]. Euphytica, 2006,151(1):123-132.DOI: 10.1007/s10681-005-9082-3.
V f is the most widely used resistance gene in the breeding for scab resistant apple cultivars. Distorted segregation ratios for V f -resistance have frequently been reported. Here we revealed that sub-lethal genes caused the distorted segregation. The inheritance of V f was examined in six progenies by testing linked molecular markers. Three progenies showed distorted segregations that could be explained by three sub-lethal genes (sl1, sl2 and sl3), of which sl1, sl2 were closely linked to V f . The s11 gene was located at about 14 cM from V f and expressed itself only in the presence of another independently segregating sub-lethal gene sl3. Only the double homozygous recessive genotypes (sl1sl1 sl3sl3) were lethal, which occurred at first as dwarf and poor vigour plants during the first three months after germination. The sl2 gene was also linked to V f and its lethality was expressed prior to seed germination and also required the homozygous recessive presence of sl3. The map position of sl3 has not yet been identified. The linkage of V f to sub-lethal genes usually results in a shortage of V f -resistant progenies. But in some exceptional crosses, it will lead to abundance of resistant seedling.
[91]
MENG XZ, XU J, HE Y X, et al. Phosphorylation of an ERF transcription factor by Arabidopsis MPK3/MPK6 regulates plant defense gene induction and fungal resistance[J]. Plant Cell, 2013,25(3):1126-1142.DOI: 10.1105/tpc.112.109074.
Arabidopsis thaliana MPK3 and MPK6, two mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs or MPKs), play critical roles in plant disease resistance by regulating multiple defense responses. Previously, we characterized the regulation of phytoalexin biosynthesis by Arabidopsis MPK3/MPK6 cascade and its downstream WRKY33 transcription factor. Here, we report another substrate of MPK3/MPK6, ETHYLENE RESPONSE FACTOR6 (ERF6), in regulating Arabidopsis defense gene expression and resistance to the necrotrophic fungal pathogen Botrytis cinerea. Phosphorylation of ERF6 by MPK3/MPK6 in either the gain-of-function transgenic plants or in response to B. cinerea infection increases ERF6 protein stability in vivo. Phospho-mimicking ERF6 is able to constitutively activate defense-related genes, especially those related to fungal resistance, including PDF1.1 and PDF1.2, and confers enhanced resistance to B. cinerea. By contrast, expression of ERF6-EAR, in which ERF6 was fused to the ERF-associated amphiphilic repression (EAR) motif, strongly suppresses B. cinerea-induced defense gene expression, leading to hypersusceptibility of the ERF6-EAR transgenic plants to B. cinerea. Different from ERF1, the regulation and function of ERF6 in defensin gene activation is independent of ethylene. Based on these data, we conclude that ERF6, another substrate of MPK3 and MPK6, plays important roles downstream of the MPK3/MPK6 cascade in regulating plant defense against fungal pathogens.
[92]
DE OLIVEIRA M L, DE LIMA SILVA C C, ABE V Y, et al. Increased resistance against Citrus canker mediated by a Citrus mitogen-activated protein kinase[J]. Mol Plant Microbe Interact, 2013,26(10):1190-1199.DOI: 10.1094/mpmi-04-13-0122-r.
Mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) play crucial roles in plant immunity. We previously identified a citrus MAPK (CsMAPK1) as a differentially expressed protein in response to infection by Xanthomonas aurantifolii, a bacterium that causes citrus canker in Mexican lime but a hypersensitive reaction in sweet oranges. Here, we confirm that, in sweet orange, CsMAPK1 is rapidly and preferentially induced by X. aurantifolii relative to Xanthomonas citri. To investigate the role of CsMAPK1 in citrus canker resistance, we expressed CsMAPK1 in citrus plants under the control of the PR5 gene promoter, which is induced by Xanthomonas infection and wounding. Increased expression of CsMAPK1 correlated with a reduction in canker symptoms and a decrease in bacterial growth. Canker lesions in plants with higher CsMAPK1 levels were smaller and showed fewer signs of epidermal rupture. Transgenic plants also revealed higher transcript levels of defense-related genes and a significant accumulation of hydrogen peroxide in response to wounding or X. citri infection. Accordingly, nontransgenic sweet orange leaves accumulate both CsMAPK1 and hydrogen peroxide in response to X. aurantifolii but not X. citri infection. These data, thus, indicate that CsMAPK1 functions in the citrus canker defense response by inducing defense gene expression and reactive oxygen species accumulation during infection.
[93]
WANG G, LOVATO A, LIANG Y H, et al. Validation by isolation and expression analyses of the mitogen-activated protein kinase gene family in the grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.)[J]. Aust J Grape Wine Res, 2014,20(2):255-262.DOI: 10.1111/ajgw.12081.
[94]
WANG G, LOVATO A, POLVERARI A, et al. Genome-wide identification and analysis of mitogen activated protein kinase kinase kinase gene family in grapevine (Vitis vinifera)[J]. BMC Plant Biol, 2014,14:219.DOI: 10.1186/s12870-014-0219-1.
BACKGROUND: Mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinases (MAPKKKs; MAP3Ks) are important components of MAPK cascades, which are highly conserved signal transduction pathways in animals, yeast and plants, play important roles in plant growth and development. MAPKKKs have been investigated on their evolution and expression patterns in limited plants including Arabidopsis, rice and maize. RESULTS: In this study, we performed a genome-wide survey and identified 45 MAPKKK genes in the grapevine genome. Chromosome location, phylogeny, gene structure and conserved protein motifs of MAPKKK family in grapevine have been analyzed to support the prediction of these genes. In the phylogenetic analysis, MAPKKK genes of grapevine have been classified into three subgroups as described for Arabidopsis, named MEKK, ZIK and RAF, also confirmed in grapevine by the analysis of conserved motifs and exon-intron organizations. By analyzing expression profiles of MAPKKK genes in grapevine microarray databases, we highlighted the modulation of different MAPKKKs in different organs and distinct developmental stages. Furthermore, we experimentally investigated the expression profiles of 45 grape MAPKKK genes in response to biotic (powdery mildew) and abiotic stress (drought), as well as to hormone (salicylic acid, ethylene) and hydrogen peroxide treatments, and identified several candidate MAPKKK genes that might play an important role in biotic and abiotic responses in grapevine, for further functional characterization. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first comprehensive experimental survey of the grapevine MAPKKK gene family, which provides insights into their potential roles in regulating responses to biotic and abiotic stresses, and the evolutionary expansion of MAPKKKs is associated with the diverse requirement in transducing external and internal signals into intracellular actions in MAPK cascade in grapevine.
[95]
RAMAMOORTHY R, JIANG S Y, KUMAR N, et al. A comprehensive transcriptional profiling of the WRKY gene family in rice under various abiotic and phytohormone treatments[J]. Plant Cell Physiol, 2008,49(6):865-879.DOI: 10.1093/pcp/pcn061.
WRKY transcription factors play important roles in the regulation of various biological processes. We have analyzed the publicly available rice genome sequence databases and predicted 103 genes encoding WRKY transcription factors. Among them, the majority of rice WRKY genes (77.7%) were located in duplicated regions; 45.6% of WRKY genes were fragmentally duplicated and 35% of them were tandemly duplicated. These results suggested that genome duplications might be regarded as a major mechanism for expansion of this family in the rice genome. Subsequently, we analyzed their expression profiles under normal and abiotic stress, as well as various hormone treatments. Under normal growth conditions, 65 WRKY genes were expressed differentially either in their transcript abundance or in their expression patterns. Under abiotic (cold, drought and salinity) stresses and various phytohormone treatments, 54 WRKY genes exhibited significant differences in their transcript abundance; among them three genes were expressed only in stressed conditions. Among the stress-inducible genes, 13 genes were regulated only by abiotic stresses, another set of 13 genes were responsive to only phytohormone treatments and the remaining 28 genes were regulated by both factors, suggesting an interaction between abiotic stress and hormone signaling. On the other hand, we have also surveyed the expression divergence of duplicated genes under normal or stressed conditions, and the results showed that high expression divergence has occurred not only among fragmentally but also among tandemly duplicated genes. These results suggested that the high expression divergence could be one of the mechanisms for the retention of these duplicated WRKY genes.
[96]
BIRKENBIHL R P, KRACHER B, ROCCARO M, et al. Induced genome-wide binding of three Arabidopsis WRKY transcription factors during early MAMP-triggered immunity[J]. Plant Cell, 2017,29(1):20-38.DOI: 10.1105/tpc.16.00681.
During microbial-associated molecular pattern-triggered immunity (MTI), molecules derived from microbes are perceived by cell surface receptors and upon signaling to the nucleus initiate a massive transcriptional reprogramming critical to mount an appropriate host defense response. WRKY transcription factors play an important role in regulating these transcriptional processes. Here, we determined on a genome-wide scale the flg22-induced in vivo DNA binding dynamics of three of the most prominent WRKY factors, WRKY18, WRKY40, and WRKY33. The three WRKY factors each bound to more than 1000 gene loci predominantly at W-box elements, the known WRKY binding motif. Binding occurred mainly in the 500-bp promoter regions of these genes. Many of the targeted genes are involved in signal perception and transduction not only during MTI but also upon damage-associated molecular pattern-triggered immunity, providing a mechanistic link between these functionally interconnected basal defense pathways. Among the additional targets were genes involved in the production of indolic secondary metabolites and in modulating distinct plant hormone pathways. Importantly, among the targeted genes were numerous transcription factors, encoding predominantly ethylene response factors, active during early MTI, and WRKY factors, supporting the previously hypothesized existence of a WRKY subregulatory network. Transcriptional analysis revealed that WRKY18 and WRKY40 function redundantly as negative regulators of flg22-induced genes often to prevent exaggerated defense responses.
[97]
WU K L, GUO Z J, WANG H H, et al. The WRKY family of transcription factors in rice and Arabidopsis and their origins[J]. DNA Res, 2005,12(1):9-26.DOI: 10.1093/dnares/12.1.9.
WRKY transcription factors, originally isolated from plants contain one or two conserved WRKY domains, about 60 amino acid residues with the WRKYGQK sequence followed by a C2H2 or C2HC zinc finger motif. Evidence is accumulating to suggest that the WRKY proteins play significant roles in responses to biotic and abiotic stresses, and in development. In this research, we identified 102 putative WRKY genes from the rice genome and compared them with those from Arabidopsis. The WRKY genes from rice and Arabidopsis were divided into three groups with several subgroups on the basis of phylogenies and the basic structure of the WRKY domains (WDs). The phylogenetic trees generated from the WDs and the genes indicate that the WRKY gene family arose during evolution through duplication and that the dramatic amplification of rice WRKY genes in group III is due to tandem and segmental gene duplication compared with those of Arabidopsis. The result suggests that some of the rice WRKY genes in group III are evolutionarily more active than those in Arabidopsis, and may have specific roles in monocotyledonous plants. Further, it was possible to identify the presence of WRKY-like genes in protists (Giardia lamblia and Dictyostelium discoideum) and green algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii through database research, demonstrating the ancient origin of the gene family. The results obtained by alignments of the WDs from different species and other analysis imply that domain gain and loss is a divergent force for expansion of the WRKY gene family, and that a rapid amplification of the WRKY genes predate the divergence of monocots and dicots. On the basis of these results, we believe that genes encoding a single WD may have been derived from the C-terminal WD of the genes harboring two WDs. The conserved intron splicing positions in the WDs of higher plants offer clues about WRKY gene evolution, annotation, and classification.
[98]
ZHAO H, JIANG J, LI K, et al. Populus simonii × Populus nigra WRKY70 is involved in salt stress and leaf blight disease responses[J]. Tree Physiol, 2017,37(6):827-844.DOI: 10.1093/treephys/tpx020.
WRKY transcription factors (TFs) are important regulators in the complex stress response signaling networks in plants, but the detailed mechanisms underlying these regulatory networks have not been fully characterized. In the present study, we identified a Group III WRKY gene (PsnWRKY70, Potri.016G137900) from Populussimonii x Populusnigra and explored its function under salt and pathogen stresses. The promoter sequence that is located 2471-bp upstream from the start codon (SC) of PsnWRKY70 contained many stress-responsive cis-elements. Yeast one-hybrid assay suggested the upstream regulators, PsnWRKY70, PsnNAM (Potri.009G141600), PsnMYB (Potri.006G000800) and PsnGT1 (Potri.010G055000), probably modulate the expression of the PsnWRKY70 gene by specifically binding to the W-box or GT1GMSCAM4 (GT1) element. Yeast two-hybrid assay and transcriptome analysis revealed that HP1 (Potri.004G092100), RRM (Potri.008G146700), Ulp1 (Potri.002G105700) and some mitogen-activated protein kinase cascade members probably interact with PsnWRKY70 TF to response to salt stress. Compared with non-transgenic (NT) plants, PsnWRKY70-overexpressing (OEX) plants exhibited improved leaf blight disease resistance, while PsnWRKY70-repressing (REX) plants displayed enhanced salt stress tolerance. PsnWRKY70, PsnNAM, PsnMYB and PsnGT1 exhibited similar expression patterns in NT under salt and leaf blight disease stresses. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) from NT vs OEX1 and the DEGs from NT vs REX1 exhibited considerable diversification. Most of the DEGs between NT and OEX1 were involved in aromatic amino acid biosynthesis, secondary metabolism, programmed cell death, peroxisomes and disease resistance. Most of the DEGs between NT and REX1 were related to desiccation response, urea transmembrane transport, abscisic acid response, calcium ion transport and hydrogen peroxide transmembrane transport. Our findings not only revealed the salt stress response signal transduction pathway of PsnWRKY70, but also provided direct evidence for the opposite biological functions of PsnWRKY70 TF in response to salt stress and leaf blight disease in P. simonii x P. nigra.
[99]
罗昌国, 袁启凤, 裴晓红, 等. 富士苹果MdWRKY40b基因克隆及其对白粉病的抗性分析[J]. 西北植物学报, 2013,33(12):2382-2387.
LUO C G, YUAN Q F, PEI X H, et al. Cloning of MdWRKY40b gene in fuji apple and its response to powdery mildew stress[J]. Acta Bot Boreali-Occidentalia Sin, 2013,33(12),33:2382-2387.
[100]
张计育, 佟兆国, 高志红, 等. SA、MeJA、ACC和苹果轮纹病病原菌诱导湖北海棠MhWRKY1基因的表达[J]. 中国农业科学, 2011,44(5):990-999.
摘要

【目的】从湖北海棠叶片中克隆MhWRKY1转录因子的全长cDNA序列,分析该基因在各种组织中(叶、茎、根)的表达特性,并分析SA、MeJA、ACC在叶、茎、根中诱导MhWRKY1基因的表达模式以及苹果轮纹病病原菌诱导条件下湖北海棠叶片中该基因的表达特性。【方法】利用电子克隆技术和RT-PCR验证相结合的方法,从SA诱导的湖北海棠全长cDNA文库中,克隆MhWRKY1转录因子的全长序列;利用生物信息学的方法对其进行结构和功能的初步分析;利用实时荧光定量RT-PCR技术分析该基因在不同组织中的表达以及在SA、MeJA、ACC和苹果轮纹病病原菌诱导下的表达特性。【结果】克隆了MhWRKY1基因的全长cDNA序列为1 338 bp,GenBank数据库登录号为FJ598139。生物信息学分析表明,该基因最大开放阅读框为993 bp,编码330个氨基酸。推导的氨基酸序列与杨树WRKY26、杨树WRKY20、大豆WRKY,马铃薯WRKY2、烟草WRKY、拟南芥WRKY7、水稻WRKY53的同源性分别为68%、68%、66%、60%,59%,49%和43%。该转录因子含有1个WRKY结构域,其N端含有1个WRKYGQK结构域,C端含有1个C2H2锌脂结构,属于第Ⅱ类型的转录因子。表达分析结果表明,MhWRKY1在叶和茎中的表达量较大,分别是根的4.81和3.75倍。在湖北海棠叶、茎、根中,SA、MeJA、ACC都可以诱导该基因的表达。另外,在所研究的72 h内,苹果轮纹病病原菌可以诱导该基因表达,且表达量在12 h达到最大,是未处理之前的9倍左右。【结论】MhWRKY1转录因子可能参与SA、MeJA和ET介导的植物抗病防卫反应的基本信号通路,并且参与对苹果轮纹病病原菌引起的防卫反应,在湖北海棠的的抗病过程中可能起着非常重要的作用。

ZHANG J Y, TONG Z G, GAO Z H, et al. Expression of MhWRKY1 gene induced by the elicitors SA,MeJA,ACC and the apple ring spot pathogen[J]. Sci Agric Sin, 2011,44(5), 44:990-999.
[101]
贾瑞瑞, 周鹏飞, 白晓晶, 等. 柑橘响应溃疡病菌转录因子CsBZIP40的克隆及功能分析[J]. 中国农业科学, 2017,50(13):2488-2497.
摘要
【目的】分析柑橘BZIP转录因子家族并克隆柑橘溃疡病菌相关的转录因子CsBZIP40,对其进行亚细胞定位并研究外源激素及机械损伤对该基因的诱导表达,确定其诱导表达模式,分析其与溃疡病菌侵染的关系。【方法】基于全基因组公共数据库,对柑橘BZIP转录因子进行综合专业注释以获得柑橘中BZIP家族的所有成员信息,并根据染色体定位对其进行命名;利用MEME分析其结构域;利用MEGA 6.0分析柑橘BZIP与拟南芥BZIP的系统发育关系,并根据系统发育关系对该基因家族进行分类,确定本研究关注的CsBZIP40所属的类型;结合染色体定位和系统发育树确定该家族的基因复制情况;利用实时荧光定量PCR(qRT-PCR)方法验证感染溃疡病菌前后由柑橘转录组筛选出的CsBZIP40表达模式;分析CsBZIP40、启动子元件(plantCARE)和核定位信号(cNLSmapper),构建GFP融合载体,用洋葱表皮进行亚细胞定位分析,来对预测的核定位信息进行验证;利用qRT-PCR技术分析水杨酸(SA)、茉莉酸甲酯(MeJA)、乙烯利(ET)以及机械损伤(wounding)对该基因的诱导表达模式,揭示该转录因子与激素代谢途径的关系。【结果】从柑橘(甜橙)全基因组数据库中共注释到47个BZIP,这些BZIP基因位于9号染色体之外的所有染色体上,其中3号染色体基因密度最大为4.5×10-7个/Mb,2号染色体上的BZIP基因密度最小,仅占所有BZIP基因的2%;柑橘BZIP基因家族含有较少的基因复制事件,所以相对其他已测序物种其BZIP家族较小;CsBZIP40基因全长5 756 bp,开放阅读框1 530 bp,编码509个氨基酸;经BZIP家族染色体定位、结构域和系统发育分析结果显示CsBZIP40基因序列特异性较好,且CsBZIP40与拟南芥中AT1g08320属于同源基因,属于柑橘10个亚家族中参与病菌防御的D亚类;上游启动子元件含多个与植物逆境或激素应答相关的顺式作用元件,例如Box-W1、HSE、ERE等;此基因含有核定位信号,亚细胞定位表明此蛋白定位于细胞核,具备转录因子发挥作用的前提;外源水杨酸并不会使四季橘和纽荷尔脐橙中CsBZIP40的表达水平显著上调,纽荷尔脐橙在茉莉酸甲酯诱导后有明显的差异表达,但乙烯利可以使CsBZIP40四季橘和纽荷尔脐橙中均有较明显的差异表达;柑橘溃疡病菌侵染可诱导抗病品种四季橘中此基因上调表达,而在感病品种纽荷尔脐橙中,该基因对柑橘溃疡病菌侵染没有响应。【结论】CsBZIP40是响应溃疡病菌侵染的一个转录因子,该基因可作为柑橘抗溃疡病菌分子育种的一个候选基因来进行进一步功能性验证,具有潜在的分子育种价值
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HAN P L, DONG Y H, GU K D, et al. The apple U-box E3 ubiquitin ligase MdPUB29 contributes to activate plant immune response to the fungal pathogen Botryosphaeria dothidea[J]. Planta, 2019,249(4):1177-1188.DOI: 10.1007/s00425-018-03069-z.
MAIN CONCLUSION: MdPUB29 is a positive regulator of the defense response to the fungal pathogen Botryosphaeria dothidea possibly by directly regulating the salicylic acid (SA) content as well as SA synthesis-related and signaling-related gene transcription. In plants, ubiquitin E3 ligases containing a U-box domain (PUBs, Plant U-box E3 ubiquitin ligase) have been identified as key regulators of fundamental cellular processes, such as cellular growth, development, and apoptosis, as well as biotic and abiotic stress responses. However, the function of PUBs in apple ring rot remains elusive. Here, we isolated the U-box E3 ligase MdPUB29 from the apple cultivar 'Royal Gala' and characterized its function in plant pathogen defense against Botryosphaeria dothidea. qRT-PCR showed that the expression of MdPUB29 was significantly induced in apple fruits after B. dothidea infection. Overexpression of the MdPUB29 gene in apple calli increased the resistance to B. dothidea infection. In contrast, silencing MdPUB29 in apple calli resulted in reduced resistance. Ectopic expression of MdPUB29 in Arabidopsis also exhibited enhanced resistance to B. dothidea infection compared to that of the wild-type (Col) control. In addition, it was found that the increase of plant pathogen defense was correlated with the increased salicylic acid (SA) content, as well as SA synthesis-related and signaling-related gene transcription in comparison to the wild type. We elucidated the mechanism by which MdPUB29 elevates plant pathogen defense against B. dothidea possibly by regulating the SA pathway.
[103]
HAN P L, WANG C K, LIU X J, et al. BTB-BACK domain E3 ligase MdPOB1 suppresses plant pathogen defense against Botryosphaeria dothidea by ubiquitinating and degrading MdPUB29 protein in apple[J]. Plant Cell Physiol, 2019,60(10):2129-2140.DOI: 10.1093/pcp/pcz106.
Apple ring rot is a severe disease that affects the yield and quality of apple fruits worldwide. However, the underlying molecular mechanism that involved in this process still remains largely unexplored. Here, we report that apple POZ/BTB CONTAINING-PROTEIN 1 (MdPOB1), a BTB-BACK domain E3 ligase protein, functions to suppress apple pathogen defense against Botryosphaeria dothidea (B. dothidea). Both in vitro and in vivo assays indicated that MdPOB1 interacted directly with and degraded apple U-box E3 ligase MdPUB29, a well-established positive regulator of plant innate immunity, through the ubiquitin/26S proteasome pathway. A series of transgenic analyses in apple fruits demonstrated that MdPOB1 affected apple pathogen defense against B. dothidea at least partially, if not completely, via regulating MdPUB29. Additionally, it was found that the apple pathogen defense against B. dothidea was correlated with the H2O2 contents and the relative expression of salicylic acid (SA) synthesis- and SA signaling-related genes, which might be regulated via degradation of MdPUB29 by MdPOB1. Overall, our findings provide new insights into the mechanism of the MdPOB1 modulation of apple ring rot resistance, which occur by directly regulating potential downstream target protein MdPUB29 for proteasomal degradation in apple.
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LIAO D, CAO Y, SUN X, et al. Arabidopsis E3 ubiquitin ligase PLANT U-BOX13 (PUB13) regulates chitin receptor LYSIN MOTIF RECEPTOR KINASE5 (LYK5) protein abundance[J]. New Phytol, 2017,214(4):1646-1656.DOI: 10.1111/nph.14472.
Long-chain chitooligosaccharides are fungal microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs) that are recognized by LYSIN MOTIF RECEPTOR KINASE5 (LYK5), inducing the formation of a complex with CHITIN ELICITOR RECEPTOR KINASE1 (CERK1). Formation of this complex leads to activation of the CERK1 intracellular kinase domain and induction of plant innate immunity in Arabidopsis. We found that addition of chitooctaose induced LYK5 protein accumulation as a result of de novo gene expression and the inhibition of LYK5 protein degradation. Screening the putative E3 ligases for interaction with LYK5 identified PLANT U-BOX13 (PUB13), which complexed with LYK5, but this complex dissociated upon addition of chitooctaose. Consistent with these results, LYK5 protein abundance was higher in pub13 mutants compared with the wild type without chitooctaose treatment, while similar abundance was detected with the addition of chitooctaose. The pub13 mutants showed hypersensitivity to chitooctaose-induced rapid responses, such as the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase phosphorylation, but exhibited normal responses to subsequent long-term chitooctaose treatment, such as gene expression and callose deposition. In addition, PUB13 could ubiquitinate the LYK5 kinase domain in vitro. Taken together, our results suggest an important regulatory function for the turnover of LYK5 mediated by the E3 ligase PUB13.
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LIU QN, NING Y S, ZHANG Y X, et al. OsCUL3a negatively regulates cell death and immunity by degrading OsNPR1 in rice[J]. Plant Cell, 2017,29(2):345-359.DOI: 10.1105/tpc.16.00650.
Cullin3-based RING E3 ubiquitin ligases (CRL3), composed of Cullin3 (CUL3), RBX1, and BTB proteins, are involved in plant immunity, but the function of CUL3 in the process is largely unknown. Here, we show that rice (Oryza sativa) OsCUL3a is important for the regulation of cell death and immunity. The rice lesion mimic mutant oscul3a displays a significant increase in the accumulation of flg22- and chitin-induced reactive oxygen species, and in pathogenesis-related gene expression as well as resistance to Magnaporthe oryzae and Xanthomonas oryzae pv oryzae. We cloned the OsCUL3a gene via a map-based strategy and found that the lesion mimic phenotype of oscul3a is associated with the early termination of OsCUL3a protein. Interaction assays showed that OsCUL3a interacts with both OsRBX1a and OsRBX1b to form a multisubunit CRL in rice. Strikingly, OsCUL3a interacts with and degrades OsNPR1, which acts as a positive regulator of cell death in rice. Accumulation of OsNPR1 protein is greater in the oscul3a mutant than in the wild type. Furthermore, the oscul3a osnpr1 double mutant does not exhibit the lesion mimic phenotype of the oscul3a mutant. Our data demonstrate that OsCUL3a negatively regulates cell death and immunity by degrading OsNPR1 in rice.
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Huanglongbing (HLB) is currently the most destructive disease of citrus worldwide. Although there is no immune cultivar, field tolerance to HLB within citrus and citrus relatives has been observed at the USDA Picos farm at Ft. Pierce, Florida, where plants have been exposed to a very high level of HLB pressure since 2006. In this study, we used RNA-Seq to evaluate expression differences between two closely related cultivars after HLB infection: HLB-tolerant
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The function of ribosome binding protein 1 (RRBP1) is regulating the transportation and secretion of some intracellular proteins in mammalian cells. Transcription of RRBP1 is induced by various cytokines. However, few studies focused on the process of RRPB1 mRNA translation. The RRBP1 mRNA has a long 5' untranslated region that potentially formed a stable secondary structure. In this study, we show that the 5' UTR of RRBP1 mRNA contains an internal ribosome entry site (IRES). Moreover, the RRBP1 expression is induced by chemotherapeutic drug paclitaxel or adriamycin in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells and accompanied with the increased expression of La autoantigen (La), which binds to RRBP1 IRES element and facilitates translation initiation. Interestingly, we found IRES-mediated RRBP1 translation is also activated during serum-starvation condition which can induce cytoplasmic localization of La. After mapping the entire RRBP1 5' UTR, we determine the core IRES activity is located between nt-237 and -58. Furthermore, two apical GARR loops within the functional RRBP1 IRES elements may be important for La binding. These results strongly suggest an important role for IRES-dependent translation of RRBP1 mRNA in hepatocellular carcinoma cells during cellular stress conditions.
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American chestnut (Castanea dentata) is a classic example of a native keystone species that was nearly eradicated by an introduced fungal pathogen. This report describes progress made toward producing a fully American chestnut tree with enhanced resistance to the blight fungus (Cryphonectria parasitica). The transgenic American chestnut 'Darling4,' produced through an Agrobacterium co-transformation procedure to express a wheat oxalate oxidase gene driven by the VspB vascular promoter, shows enhanced blight resistance at a level intermediate between susceptible American chestnut and resistant Chinese chestnut (Castanea mollissima). Enhanced resistance was identified first with a leaf-inoculation assay using young chestnuts grown indoors, and confirmed with traditional stem inoculations on 3- and 4-year-old field-grown trees. Pollen from 'Darling4' and other events was used to produce transgenic T1 seedlings, which also expressed the enhanced resistance trait in leaf assays. Outcrossed transgenic seedlings have several advantages over tissue-cultured plantlets, including increased genetic diversity and faster initial growth. This represents a major step toward the restoration of the majestic American chestnut. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd.
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ZHANG B, OAKES A D, NEWHOUSE A E, et al. A threshold level of oxalate oxidase transgene expression reduces Cryphonectria parasitica-induced necrosis in a transgenic American chestnut (Castanea dentata) leaf bioassay[J]. Transgenic Res, 2013,22(5):973-982.DOI: 10.1007/s11248-013-9708-5.

American chestnut (Castanea dentata) was transformed with a wheat oxalate oxidase (oxo) gene in an effort to degrade the oxalic acid (OA) secreted by the fungus Cryphonectria parasitica, thus decreasing its virulence. Expression of OxO was examined under two promoters: a strong constitutive promoter, CaMV 35S, and a predominantly vascular promoter, VspB. Oxogene transcription was quantified by RT-qPCR. Relative expression of OxO varied approximately 200 fold among events produced with the 35S-OxO. The lowest 35S-OxO event expressed approximately 3,000 fold higher than the highest VspB-OxO event. This was potentially due to the tissue-specific nature of the VspB-controlled expression, the strength of the CaMV 35S constitutive promoter, or position effects. Leaf assays measuring necrotic lesion length were conducted to better understand the relationship between OxO expression level and the blight fungus in planta. A threshold response was observed between the OxO expression level and the C. parasitica lesion length. Five events of the 35S-OxO line showed significantly reduced lesion length compared to the blight-susceptible American chestnut. More importantly, the lesion length in these five events was reduced to the same level as the blight-resistant Chinese chestnut, C. mollissima. This is the first report on enhanced pathogen resistance in transgenic American chestnut.


[114]
LIANG HY, MAYNARD C A, ALLEN R D, et al. Increased Septoria musiva resistance in transgenic hybrid poplar leaves expressing a wheat oxalate oxidase gene[J]. Plant Mol Biol, 2001,45(6):619-629.DOI: 10.1023/A:1010631318831.
A cDNA clone of a wheat germin-like oxalate oxidase (OxO) gene regulated by the constitutive CaMV 35S promoter was expressed in a hybrid poplar clone, Populus × euramericana (`Ogy'). Previous studies showed that OxO is likely to play an important role in several aspects of plant development, stress response, and defense against pathogens. In order to study this wheat oxalate oxidase gene in woody plants, the expression of this gene and the functions of the encoded enzyme were examined in vitro and in vivo in transgenic `Ogy'. The enzyme activity in the transformed `Ogy' was visualized by histochemical assays and in SDS-polyacrylamide gels. It was found that the wheat OxO gene is expressed in leaves, stems, and roots of the transgenic `Ogy' plants and the encoded enzyme is able to break down oxalic acid. Transgenic `Ogy' leaves were more tolerant to oxalic acid as well as more effective in increasing the pH in an oxalic acid solution when compared to untransformed controls. In addition, when leaf disks from `Ogy' plants were inoculated with conidia of the poplar pathogenic fungus Septoria musiva, which produces oxalic acid, the OxO-transformed plants were more resistant than the untransformed controls.
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Powdery mildew fungi are obligate biotrophic pathogens that only grow on living hosts and cause damage in thousands of plant species. Despite their agronomical importance, little direct functional evidence for genes of pathogenicity and virulence is currently available because mutagenesis and transformation protocols are lacking. Here, we show that the accumulation in barley (Hordeum vulgare) and wheat (Triticum aestivum) of double-stranded or antisense RNA targeting fungal transcripts affects the development of the powdery mildew fungus Blumeria graminis. Proof of concept for host-induced gene silencing was obtained by silencing the effector gene Avra10, which resulted in reduced fungal development in the absence, but not in the presence, of the matching resistance gene Mla10. The fungus could be rescued from the silencing of Avra10 by the transient expression of a synthetic gene that was resistant to RNA interference (RNAi) due to silent point mutations. The results suggest traffic of RNA molecules from host plants into B. graminis and may lead to an RNAi-based crop protection strategy against fungal pathogens.
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PANWAR V, MCCALLUM B, BAKKEREN G. Endogenous silencing of Puccinia triticina pathogenicity genes through in planta-expressed sequences leads to the suppression of rust diseases on wheat[J]. Plant J, 2013,73(3):521-532.DOI: 10.1111/tpj.12047.
Rust fungi are destructive plant pathogens. The draft genomes of several wheat-infecting species have been released and potential pathogenicity genes identified through comparative analyses to fungal pathogens that are amenable to genetic manipulation. Functional gene analysis tools are needed to understand the infection process of these obligate parasites and to confirm whether predicted pathogenicity genes could become targets for disease control. We have modified an Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated in planta-induced transient gene silencing (PITGS) assay for use in Triticum spp. (wheat), and used this assay to target predicted wheat leaf rust fungus, Puccinia triticina (Pt) pathogenicity genes, a MAP kinase (PtMAPK1), a cyclophilin (PtCYC1) and calcineurin B (PtCNB), to analyze their roles in disease. Agroinfiltration effectively delivered hairpin silencing constructs in wheat, leading to the generation of fungal gene-specific siRNA molecules in infiltrated leaves, and resulting in up to 70% reduction in transcription of the endogenous target genes in superinfected Pt. In vivo silencing caused severe disease suppression, compromising fungal growth and sporulation, as viewed by confocal microscopy and measured by reductions in fungal biomass and emergence of uredinia. Interestingly, using the same gene constructs, suppression of infection by Puccinia graminis and Puccinia striiformis was also achieved. Our results show that A.tumefaciens-mediated PITGS can be used as a reverse-genetics tool to discover gene function in rust fungi. This proof-of-concept study indicates that the targeted fungal transcripts might be important in pathogenesis, and could potentially be used as promising targets for developing RNA interference-based resistance against rust fungi.
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Head blight, which is caused by mycotoxin-producing fungi of the genus Fusarium, is an economically important crop disease. We assessed the potential of host-induced gene silencing targeting the fungal cytochrome P450 lanosterol C-14alpha-demethylase (CYP51) genes, which are essential for ergosterol biosynthesis, to restrict fungal infection. In axenic cultures of Fusarium graminearum, in vitro feeding of CYP3RNA, a 791-nt double-stranded (ds)RNA complementary to CYP51A, CYP51B, and CYP51C, resulted in growth inhibition [half-maximum growth inhibition (IC50) = 1.2 nM] as well as altered fungal morphology, similar to that observed after treatment with the azole fungicide tebuconazole, for which the CYP51 enzyme is a target. Expression of the same dsRNA in Arabidopsis and barley rendered susceptible plants highly resistant to fungal infection. Microscopic analysis revealed that mycelium formation on CYP3RNA-expressing leaves was restricted to the inoculation sites, and that inoculated barley caryopses were virtually free of fungal hyphae. This inhibition of fungal growth correlated with in planta production of siRNAs corresponding to the targeted CYP51 sequences, as well as highly efficient silencing of the fungal CYP51 genes. The high efficiency of fungal inhibition suggests that host-induced gene-silencing targeting of the CYP51 genes is an alternative to chemical treatments for the control of devastating fungal diseases.
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SU Y, LI H G, WANG Y, et al. Poplar miR472a targeting NBS-LRRs is involved in effective defence against the necrotrophic fungus Cytospora chrysosperma[J]. J Exp Bot, 2018,69(22):5519-5530.DOI: 10.1093/jxb/ery304.
The hemibiotroph Colletotrichum gloeosporioides and the necrotroph Cytospora chrysosperma cause poplar foliage and stem disease, respectively, resulting in substantial economic losses. In this study, Populus trichocarpa ptc-miR472a was down-regulated in leaves treated with salicylic acid, jasmonic acid (JA) or bacterial flagellin (flg22). Here, ptc-miR472a and a short tandem target mimic (STTM) of miR472a were overexpressed in P. alba x P. glandulosa, and overexpression lines of miR472a and silenced lines of STTM472a were generated. Compared with the STTM472a and wild type lines, lower reactive oxygen species accumulation was detected in miR472a overexpressing plants treated with flg22, C. gloeosporioides or C. chrysosperma. In addition, the miR472a overexpressing lines exhibited the highest susceptibility to the hemibiotroph, C. gloeosporioides, but the highest effective defence response to the necrotroph, C. chrysosperma. The JA/ethylene marker gene ERF1 was rapidly up-regulated in miR472a overexpressing plants. Furthermore, five phased, secondary, small interfering RNAs (phasiRNAs) were confirmed in the miR472a overexpressing and STTM472a lines, triggering phasiRNAs predicted to enhance NBS-LRR silencing. Taken together, our results revealed that ptc-miR472a exerts a key role in plant immunity to C. gloeosporioides and C. chrysosperma by targeting NBS-LRR transcripts. This study provides a new strategy and method in plant breeding to improve plant disease resistance.
[121]
ZHANG Q, LI Y, ZHANG Y, et al. Md-miR156ab and Md-miR395 target WRKY transcription factors to influence apple resistance to leaf spot disease[J]. Front Plant Sci, 2017,8:526.DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2017.00526.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are key regulators of gene expression that post-transcriptionally regulate transcription factors involved in plant physiological activities. Little is known about the effects of miRNAs in disease resistance in apple (Malusxdomestica). We globally profiled miRNAs in the apple cultivar Golden Delicious (GD) infected or not with the apple leaf spot fungus Alternaria alternaria f. sp. mali (ALT1), and identified 58 miRNAs that exhibited more than a 2-fold upregulation upon ALT1 infection. We identified a pair of miRNAs that target protein-coding genes involved in the defense response against fungal pathogens; Md-miR156ab targets a novel WRKY transcription factor, MdWRKYN1, which harbors a TIR and a WRKY domain. Md-miR395 targets another transcription factor, MdWRKY26, which contains two WRKY domains. Real-time PCR analysis showed that Md-miR156ab and Md-miR395 levels increased, while MdWRKYN1 and MdWRKY26 expression decreased in ALT1-inoculated GD leaves; furthermore, the overexpression of Md-miR156ab and Md-miR395 resulted in a significant reduction in MdWRKYN1 and MdWRKY26 expression. To investigate whether these miRNAs and their targets play a crucial role in plant defense, we overexpressed MdWRKYN1 or knocked down Md-miR156ab activity, which in both cases enhanced the disease resistance of the plants by upregulating the expression of the WRKY-regulated pathogenesis-related (PR) protein-encoding genes MdPR3-1, MdPR3-2, MdPR4, MdPR5, MdPR10-1, and MdPR10-2. In a similar analysis, we overexpressed MdWRKY26 or suppressed Md-miR395 activity, and found that many PR protein-encoding genes were also regulated by MdWRKY26. In GD, ALT-induced Md-miR156ab and Md-miR395 suppress MdWRKYN1 and MdWRKY26 expression, thereby decreasing the expression of some PR genes, and resulting in susceptibility to ALT1.
[122]
ZHANG Y, ZHANG Q, HAO L, et al. A novel miRNA negatively regulates resistance to Glomerella leaf spot by suppressing expression of an NBS gene in apple[J]. Hortic Res, 2019,6:93.DOI: 10.1038/s41438-019-0175-x.
Glomerella leaf spot (GLS) of apple (Malusxdomestica Borkh.), caused by Glomerella cingulata, is an emerging fungal epidemic threatening the apple industry. Little is known about the molecular mechanism underlying resistance to this devastating fungus. In this study, high-throughput sequencing technology was used to identify microRNAs (miRNAs) involved in GLS resistance in apple. We focused on miRNAs that target genes related to disease and found that expression of a novel miRNA, Md-miRln20, was higher in susceptible apple varieties than in resistant ones. Furthermore, its target gene Md-TN1-GLS exhibited the opposite expression pattern, which suggested that the expression levels of Md-miRln20 and its target gene are closely related to apple resistance to GLS. Furthermore, downregulation of Md-miRln20 in susceptible apple leaves resulted in upregulation of Md-TN1-GLS and reduced the disease incidence. Conversely, overexpression of Md-miRln20 in resistant apple leaves suppressed Md-TN1-GLS expression, with increased disease incidence. We demonstrated that Md-miRln20 negatively regulates resistance to GLS by suppressing Md-TN1-GLS expression and showed, for the first time, a crucial role for miRNA in response to GLS in apple.
[123]
ZHOU X, JACOBS T B, XUE L J, et al. Exploiting SNPs for biallelic CRISPR mutations in the outcrossing woody perennial Populus reveals 4-coumarate:CoA ligase specificity and redundancy[J]. New Phytol, 2015,208(2):298-301.DOI: 10.1111/nph.13470.
[124]
FAN D, LIU T, LI C, et al. Efficient CRISPR/Cas9-mediated targeted mutagenesis in Populus in the first generation[J]. Sci Rep, 2015,5:12217.DOI: 10.1038/srep12217.
Recently, RNA-guided genome editing using the type II clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-associated protein (Cas) system has been applied to edit the plant genome in several herbaceous plant species. However, it remains unknown whether this system can be used for genome editing in woody plants. In this study, we describe the genome editing and targeted gene mutation in a woody species, Populus tomentosa Carr. via the CRISPR/Cas9 system. Four guide RNAs (gRNAs) were designed to target with distinct poplar genomic sites of the phytoene desaturase gene 8 (PtoPDS) which are followed by the protospacer-adjacent motif (PAM). After Agrobacterium-mediated transformation, obvious albino phenotype was observed in transgenic poplar plants. By analyzing the RNA-guided genome-editing events, 30 out of 59 PCR clones were homozygous mutants, 2 out of 59 were heterozygous mutants and the mutation efficiency at these target sites was estimated to be 51.7%. Our data demonstrate that the Cas9/sgRNA system can be exploited to precisely edit genomic sequence and effectively create knockout mutations in woody plants.
[125]
LIU TT, FAN D, RAN L Y, et al. Highly efficient CRISPR/Cas9-mediated targeted mutagenesis of multiple genes in Populus[J]. Yi Chuan, 2015,37(10):1044-1052.DOI: 10.16288/j.yczz.15-303.
The typeCRISPR/Cas9 system (Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats /CRISPR-associated 9) has been widely used in bacteria, yeast, animals and plants as a targeted genome editing technique. In previous work, we have successfully knocked out the endogenous phytoene dehydrogenase (PDS) gene in Populus tomentosa Carr. using this system. To study the effect of target design on the efficiency of CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene knockout in Populus, we analyzed the efficiency of mutagenesis using different single-guide RNA (sgRNA) that target PDS DNA sequence. We found that mismatches between the sgRNA and the target DNA resulted in decreased efficiency of mutagenesis and even failed mutagenesis. Moreover, complementarity between the 3' end nucleotide of sgRNA and target DNA is especially crucial for efficient mutagenesis. Further sequencing analysis showed that two PDS homologs in Populus, PtPDS1 and PtPDS2, could be knocked out simultaneously using this system with 86.4% and 50% efficiency, respectively. These results indicated the possibility of introducing mutations in two or more endogenous genes efficiently and obtaining multi-mutant strains of Populus using this system. We have indeed generated several knockout mutants of transcription factors and structural genes in Populus, which establishes a foundation for future studies of gene function and genetic improvement of Populus.
[126]
NISHITANI C, HIRAI N, KOMORI S, et al. Efficient genome editing in apple using a CRISPR/Cas9 system[J]. Sci Rep, 2016,6:31481.DOI: 10.1038/srep31481.
Genome editing is a powerful technique for genome modification in molecular research and crop breeding, and has the great advantage of imparting novel desired traits to genetic resources. However, the genome editing of fruit tree plantlets remains to be established. In this study, we describe induction of a targeted gene mutation in the endogenous apple phytoene desaturase (PDS) gene using the CRISPR/Cas9 system. Four guide RNAs (gRNAs) were designed and stably transformed with Cas9 separately in apple. Clear and partial albino phenotypes were observed in 31.8% of regenerated plantlets for one gRNA, and bi-allelic mutations in apple PDS were confirmed by DNA sequencing. In addition, an 18-bp gRNA also induced a targeted mutation. These CRIPSR/Cas9 induced-mutations in the apple genome suggest activation of the NHEJ pathway, but with some involvement also of the HR pathway. Our results demonstrate that genome editing can be practically applied to modify the apple genome.
[127]
JIA H, WANG N. Targeted genome editing of sweet orange using Cas9/sgRNA[J]. PLoS One, 2014,9(4):e93806.DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0093806.
Genetic modification, including plant breeding, has been widely used to improve crop yield and quality, as well as to increase disease resistance. Targeted genome engineering is expected to contribute significantly to future varietal improvement, and genome editing technologies using zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs), transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs), and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)/Cas9/single guide RNA (sgRNA) have already been successfully used to genetically modify plants. However, to date, there has been no reported use of any of the current genome editing approaches in sweet orange, an important fruit crop. In this study, we first developed a novel tool, Xcc-facilitated agroinfiltration, for enhancing transient protein expression in sweet orange leaves. We then successfully employed Xcc-facilitated agroinfiltration to deliver Cas9, along with a synthetic sgRNA targeting the CsPDS gene, into sweet orange. DNA sequencing confirmed that the CsPDS gene was mutated at the target site in treated sweet orange leaves. The mutation rate using the Cas9/sgRNA system was approximately 3.2 to 3.9%. Off-target mutagenesis was not detected for CsPDS-related DNA sequences in our study. This is the first report of targeted genome modification in citrus using the Cas9/sgRNA system-a system that holds significant promise for the study of citrus gene function and for targeted genetic modification.
[128]
胡春华, 邓贵明, 孙晓玄, 等. 香蕉CRISPR/Cas9基因编辑技术体系的建立[J]. 中国农业科学, 2017,50(7):1294-1301.
摘要
【目的】建立香蕉CRISPR/Cas9基因编辑技术体系,为在香蕉上利用CRISPR/CAS9技术开展香蕉基因功能研究和香蕉育种工作开辟新的路径。【方法】根据香蕉A基因组八氢番茄红素脱氢酶(phytoene dehydrogenase,PDS)基因组序列,利用在线工具ZiFiT Targeter Version 4.2确定合适的CRISPR/Cas9靶标序列,选择其中一个位点作为靶标位点,设计包含靶标基因MaPDS序列的sgRNA。利用一套改良的CRISPR/Cas9多靶点载体系统,以pYLgRNA-LacZ-U6a质粒为模版,Overlapping PCR法构建U6a-sgRNA表达盒,再利用Golden Gate Cloning法将U6a-sgRNA表达盒克隆到pYLCRISPR/Cas9载体中,构建以MaPDS为靶标基因的pYLCRISPR/Cas9-sgRNA载体。构建的质粒含Cas9psgRNA表达盒,其中Cas9pPUbi启动子驱动,sgRNA水稻来源的RNA启动子U6a驱动。将构建好的载体转入农杆菌EHA105,转化香蕉主栽品种巴西蕉胚性细胞悬浮系,获得抗性再生植株。设计PCR引物扩增包含靶标序列的MaPDS序列片段,检测和分析再生植株MaPDS被编辑的情况。【结果】试验选择MaPDS作为CRISPR/Cas9靶标基因,设计一个靶标位点,利用Overlapping PCR法获得了U6a-sgRNA表达盒,利用Golden Gate Cloning法将其克隆到pYLCRISPR/Cas9的Bsa I位点,成功构建了针对MaPDS的pYLCRISPR/Cas9-sgRNA载体。经过农杆菌浸染、抗性筛选、抗性胚诱导、萌发及生根,最终获得抗性独立转化株系129个。其中,71个株系出现白化表型,产生白化表型的几率达55%。失绿突变体的出现意味着MaPDS蛋白功能丧失。随机取转化株系中的白化表型株系33个和正常表型株系14个,提取其叶片基因组DNA,扩增含有MaPDS的靶位点片段,序列分析结果表明,白化表型株系的MaPDS靶位点序列发生了基因编辑。主要是在靶位点附近增加1个碱基T或A,或是在靶位点附近或下游发生碱基颠换或转换,出现非靶标位点突变。这些突变形式均能导致MaPDS蛋白翻译错误,从而使MaPDS蛋白丧失功能,表现为白化。转化株系中表型正常植株的MaPDS靶位点序列与野生型一致,未检测到变异。【结论】成功在香蕉体内实现了对内源MaPDS的定点敲除,获得了基因定点敲除的突变体株系,为进一步利用基因编辑技术在香蕉上的应用奠定了基础。
HU C H, DENG G M, SUN X X, et al. Establishment of an efficient CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing system in banana[J]. Sci Agric Sin, 2017,50(7):1294-1301.
[129]
LIU R, CHEN L, JIANG Y, et al. Efficient genome editing in filamentous fungus Trichoderma reesei using the CRISPR/Cas9 system[J]. Cell Discov, 2015,1:15007.DOI: 10.1038/celldisc.2015.7.
Filamentous fungi have wide applications in biotechnology. The CRISPR/Cas9 system is a powerful genome-editing method that facilitates genetic alterations of genomes in a variety of organisms. However, a genome-editing approach has not been reported in filamentous fungi. Here, we demonstrated the establishment of a CRISPR/Cas9 system in the filamentous fungus Trichoderma reesei by specific codon optimization and in vitro RNA transcription. It was shown that the CRISPR/Cas9 system was controllable and conditional through inducible Cas9 expression. This system generated site-specific mutations in target genes through efficient homologous recombination, even using short homology arms. This system also provided an applicable and promising approach to targeting multiple genes simultaneously. Our results illustrate that the CRISPR/Cas9 system is a powerful genome-manipulating tool for T. reesei and most likely for other filamentous fungal species, which may accelerate studies on functional genomics and strain improvement in these filamentous fungi.
[130]
KATAYAMA T, TANAKA Y, OKABE T, et al. Development of a genome editing technique using the CRISPR/Cas9 system in the industrial filamentous fungus Aspergillus oryzae[J]. Biotechnol Lett, 2016,38(4):637-642.DOI: 10.1007/s10529-015-2015-x.
OBJECTIVES: To develop a genome editing method using the CRISPR/Cas9 system in Aspergillus oryzae, the industrial filamentous fungus used in Japanese traditional fermentation and for the production of enzymes and heterologous proteins. RESULTS: To develop the CRISPR/Cas9 system as a genome editing technique for A. oryzae, we constructed plasmids expressing the gene encoding Cas9 nuclease and single guide RNAs for the mutagenesis of target genes. We introduced these into an A. oryzae strain and obtained transformants containing mutations within each target gene that exhibited expected phenotypes. The mutational rates ranged from 10 to 20 %, and 1 bp deletions or insertions were the most commonly induced mutations. CONCLUSIONS: We developed a functional and versatile genome editing method using the CRISPR/Cas9 system in A. oryzae. This technique will contribute to the use of efficient targeted mutagenesis in many A. oryzae industrial strains.
[131]
ZHANG C, MENG X, WEI X, et al. Highly efficient CRISPR mutagenesis by microhomology-mediated end joining in Aspergillus fumigatus[J]. Fungal Genet Biol, 2016,86:47-57.DOI: 10.1016/j.fgb.2015.12.007.
Filamentous fungi have a dominant nonhomologous-end joining (NHEJ) DNA repair pathway, which results in the majority of transformed progenies having random heterologous insertion mutagenesis. Thus, lack of a versatile genome-editing tool prevents us from carrying out precise genome editing to explore the mechanism of pathogenesis. Moreover, clinical isolates that have a wild-type ku80 background without any selection nutrition marker especially suffer from low homologous integration efficiency. In this study, we have established a highly efficient CRISPR mutagenesis system to carry out precise and efficient in-frame integration with or without marker insertion with approximately 95-100% accuracy via very short (approximately 35-bp) homology arms in a process referred to as microhomology-mediated end joining (MMEJ). Based on this system, we have successfully achieved an efficient and precise integration of an exogenous GFP tag at the predicted site without marker insertion and edited a conidial melanin gene pksP and a catalytic subunit of calcineurin gene cnaA at multiple predicted sites with or without selection marker insertion. Moreover, we found that MMEJ-mediated CRISPR-Cas9 mutagenesis is independent of the ku80 pathway, indicating that this system can function as a powerful and versatile genome-editing tool in clinical Aspergillus isolates.
[132]
ARAZOE T, MIYOSHI K, YAMATO T, et al. Tailor-made CRISPR/Cas system for highly efficient targeted gene replacement in the rice blast fungus[J]. Biotechnol Bioeng, 2015,112(12):2543-2549.DOI: 10.1002/bit.25662.
CRISPR/Cas-derived RNA-guided nucleases (RGNs) that can generate DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) at a specific sequence are widely used for targeted genome editing by induction of DSB repair in many organisms. The CRISPR/Cas system consists of two components: a single Cas9 nuclease and a single-guide RNA (sgRNA). Therefore, the system for constructing RGNs is simple and efficient, but the utilization of RGNs in filamentous fungi has not been validated. In this study, we established the CRISPR/Cas system in the model filamentous fungus, Pyricularia oryzae, using Cas9 that was codon-optimized for filamentous fungi, and the endogenous RNA polymerase (RNAP) III U6 promoter and a RNAP II fungal promoter for the expression of the sgRNA. We further demonstrated that RGNs could recognize the desired sequences and edit endogenous genes through homologous recombination-mediated targeted gene replacement with high efficiency. Our system will open the way for the development of various CRISPR/Cas-based applications in filamentous fungi.
[133]
郑武, 谷峰. CRISPR/Cas9的应用及脱靶效应研究进展[J]. 遗传, 2015,37(10), 37:1003-1010.
ZHENG W, GU F. Progress of application and off-target effects of CRISPR/Cas9[J]. Hereditas, 2015,37(10), 37:1003-1010.DOI: 10.16288/j.yczz.15-070.
[134]
周燕燕. 紫玉盘内生真菌Arthrinium sp.次级代谢产物研究[D]. 广州:广东药学院, 2015.
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于湘莉, 赵静雅, 张利达, 等. 楸树内生真菌抗癌性能研究[J]. 上海医药, 2012,33(13):49-52.
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刘丽莉, 吕国忠, 孙晓东. 林木内生真菌研究进展[J]. 菌物研究, 2006,4(2):54-59.
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[137]
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任娜. 红豆杉内生真菌遗传多样性分析及生物转化研究[D]. 长沙:中南大学, 2011.
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[140]
ARNOLD A E, MEJÍA L C, KYLLO D, et al. Fungal endophytes limit pathogen damage in a tropical tree[J]. PNAS, 2003,100(26):15649-15654.DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2533483100.
Every plant species examined to date harbors endophytic fungi within its asymptomatic aerial tissues, such that endophytes represent a ubiquitous, yet cryptic, component of terrestrial plant communities. Fungal endophytes associated with leaves of woody angiosperms are especially diverse; yet, fundamental aspects of their interactions with hosts are unknown. In contrast to the relatively species-poor endophytes that are vertically transmitted and act as defensive mutualists of some temperate grasses, the diverse, horizontally transmitted endophytes of woody angiosperms are thought to contribute little to host defense. Here, we document high diversity, spatial structure, and host affinity among foliar endophytes associated with a tropical tree (Theobroma cacao, Malvaceae) across lowland Panama. We then show that inoculation of endophyte-free leaves with endophytes isolated frequently from naturally infected, asymptomatic hosts significantly decreases both leaf necrosis and leaf mortality when T. cacao seedlings are challenged with a major pathogen (Phytophthora sp.). In contrast to reports of fungal inoculation inducing systemic defense, we found that protection was primarily localized to endophyte-infected tissues. Further, endophyte-mediated protection was greater in mature leaves, which bear less intrinsic defense against fungal pathogens than do young leaves. In vitro studies suggest that host affinity is mediated by leaf chemistry, and that protection may be mediated by direct interactions of endophytes with foliar pathogens. Together, these data demonstrate the capacity of diverse, horizontally transmitted endophytes of woody angiosperms to play an important but previously unappreciated role in host defense.
[141]
袁秀英, 白红霞, 白玉明, 等. 杨树内生真菌的分离和拮抗生防菌的筛选[J]. 林业科学研究, 2006,19(6):713-717.
摘要
从健康杨树植株的叶(芽)、皮、枝中分离获得154株内生真菌,经形态观察分类鉴定归属于3个目、5个科、13个属中。利用两点对峙培养拮抗试验、孢子萌发试验和人工接种试验,从中筛选杨树烂皮病病原菌的拮抗菌。试验结果表明所获内生真菌(4属)菌株对病原菌菌丝生长和孢子萌发均存在不同程度的抑制作用,其中,青霉属真菌(Penicilliumsp.)的菌株拮抗效果表现最明显。青霉菌可迅速对病原菌菌落包围、覆盖,从而使植物病原菌生长受到抑制,孢子萌发试验中,3 d的培养滤液就可对病原菌孢子萌发产生抑制作用,表现出一定的生防潜能。
YUAN X Y, BAI H X, BAI Y M, et al. Isolation of endophytes and screen of antagonistic strains in poplar trees[J]. For Res, 2006,19(6):713-717.DOI: 10.3321/j.issn:1001-1498.2006.06.007.
[142]
BUSBY P E, PEAY K G, NEWCOMBE G. Common foliar fungi of Populus trichocarpa modify Melampsora rust disease severity[J]. New Phytol, 2016,209(4):1681-1692.DOI: 10.1111/nph.13742.
Nonpathogenic foliar fungi (i.e. endophytes and epiphytes) can modify plant disease severity in controlled experiments. However, experiments have not been combined with ecological studies in wild plant pathosystems to determine whether disease-modifying fungi are common enough to be ecologically important. We used culture-based methods and DNA sequencing to characterize the abundance and distribution of foliar fungi of Populus trichocarpa in wild populations across its native range (Pacific Northwest, USA). We conducted complementary, manipulative experiments to test how foliar fungi commonly isolated from those populations influence the severity of Melampsora leaf rust disease. Finally, we examined correlative relationships between the abundance of disease-modifying foliar fungi and disease severity in wild trees. A taxonomically and geographically diverse group of common foliar fungi significantly modified disease severity in experiments, either increasing or decreasing disease severity. Spatial patterns in the abundance of some of these foliar fungi were significantly correlated (in predicted directions) with disease severity in wild trees. Our study reveals that disease modification is an ecological function shared by common foliar fungal symbionts of P. trichocarpa. This finding raises new questions about plant disease ecology and plant biodiversity, and has applied potential for disease management.
[143]
WANG S, GUAN Y, WANG Q, et al. A mycorrhizae-like gene regulates stem cell and gametophore development in mosses[J]. Nat Commun, 2020,11(1):2030.DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-15967-6.
Plant colonization of land has been intimately associated with mycorrhizae or mycorrhizae-like fungi. Despite the pivotal role of fungi in plant adaptation, it remains unclear whether and how gene acquisition following fungal interaction might have affected the development of land plants. Here we report a macro2 domain gene in bryophytes that is likely derived from Mucoromycota, a group that includes some mycorrhizae-like fungi found in the earliest land plants. Experimental and transcriptomic evidence suggests that this macro2 domain gene in the moss Physcomitrella patens, PpMACRO2, is important in epigenetic modification, stem cell function, cell reprogramming and other processes. Gene knockout and over-expression of PpMACRO2 significantly change the number and size of gametophores. These findings provide insights into the role of fungal association and the ancestral gene repertoire in the early evolution of land plants.
[144]
WATTS-WILLIAMS S J, EMMETT B D, LEVESQUE-TREMBLAY V, et al. Diverse Sorghum bicolor accessions show marked variation in growth and transcriptional responses to arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi[J]. Plant Cell Environ, 2019,42(5):1758-1774.DOI: 10.1111/pce.13509.
Sorghum is an important crop grown worldwide for feed and fibre. Like most plants, it has the capacity to benefit from symbioses with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, and its diverse genotypes likely vary in their responses. Currently, the genetic basis of mycorrhiza-responsiveness is largely unknown. Here, we investigated transcriptional and physiological responses of sorghum accessions, founders of a bioenergy nested association mapping panel, for their responses to four species of AM fungi. Transcriptome comparisons across four accessions identified mycorrhiza-inducible genes; stringent filtering criteria revealed 278 genes that show mycorrhiza-inducible expression independent of genotype and 55 genes whose expression varies with genotype. The latter suggests variation in phosphate transport and defence across these accessions. The mycorrhiza growth and nutrient responses of 18 sorghum accessions varied tremendously, ranging from mycorrhiza-dependent to negatively mycorrhiza-responsive. Additionally, accessions varied in the number of AM fungi to which they showed positive responses, from one to several fungal species. Mycorrhiza growth and phosphorus responses were positively correlated, whereas expression of two mycorrhiza-inducible phosphate transporters, SbPT8 and SbPT9, correlated negatively with mycorrhizal growth responses. AM fungi improve growth and mineral nutrition of sorghum, and the substantial variation between lines provides the potential to map loci influencing mycorrhiza responses.
[145]
MACHOA P, ZIPFEL C. Plant PRRs and the activation of innate immune signaling[J]. Mol Cell, 2014,54(2):263-272.DOI: 10.1016/j.molcel.2014.03.028.
Despite being sessile organisms constantly exposed to potential pathogens and pests, plants are surprisingly resilient to infections. Plants can detect invaders via the recognition of pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) by pattern recognition receptors (PRRs). Plant PRRs are surface-localized receptor-like kinases, which comprise a ligand-binding ectodomain and an intracellular kinase domain, or receptor-like proteins, which do not exhibit any known intracellular signaling domain. In this review, we summarize recent discoveries that shed light on the molecular mechanisms underlying ligand perception and subsequent activation of plant PRRs. Notably, plant PRRs appear as central components of multiprotein complexes at the plasma membrane that contain additional transmembrane and cytosolic kinases required for the initiation and specificity of immune signaling. PRR complexes are under tight control by protein phosphatases, E3 ligases, and other regulatory proteins, illustrating the exquisite and complex regulation of these molecular machines whose proper activation underlines a crucial layer of plant immunity.
[146]
LÓPEZ-RÁEZ J A, SHIRASU K, FOO E. Strigolactones in plant interactions with beneficial and detrimental organisms:The Yin and Yang[J]. Trends Plant Sci, 2017,22(6):527-537.DOI: 10.1016/j.tplants.2017.03.011.
Strigolactones (SLs) are plant hormones that have important roles as modulators of plant development. They were originally described as ex planta signaling molecules in the rhizosphere that induce the germination of parasitic plants, a role that was later linked to encouraging the beneficial symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. Recently, the focus has shifted to examining the role of SLs in plant-microbe interactions, and has revealed roles for SLs in the association of legumes with nitrogen-fixing rhizobacteria and in interactions with disease-causing pathogens. Here, we examine the role of SLs in plant interactions with beneficial and detrimental organisms, and propose possible future biotechnological applications.

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国家自然科学基金项目(32071767)

编辑: 吴祝华

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