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Signal Transduction Pathways in Plants for Resistance Against Plant Pathogens 2019

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Plant Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 September 2019) | Viewed by 20380

Special Issue Editors

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is the continuation of our previous special issue "Signal Transduction Pathways in Plants for Resistance Against Plant Pathogens".

Pathogens could severely limit plant growth and hence pose a severe threat to crop productivity. The co-evolutionary war between plants and their pathogens has led to the development of complex signaling systems in plants, enabling them to sense the presence of both compatible and incompatible pathogens and trigger their defense systems precisely and promptly. This Special Issue explores the signal transduction pathways in plants that led to resistance against pathogens, including, but not limited to, functional analysis of qualitative and quantitation resistance genes, defense mechanisms, plant-pathogen interactions, and signal transduction crosstalk.

Prof. Dr. Hon-Ming Lam
Prof. Dr. Jianzhong Liu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • plant defense
  • plant immunity
  • plant pathogens
  • plant-microbe interaction
  • plant signal transduction
  • resistance genes
  • avirulence genes
  • signaling crosstalk

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 3706 KiB  
Article
Transcriptome Analysis Identifies Candidate Genes and Functional Pathways Controlling the Response of Two Contrasting Barley Varieties to Powdery Mildew Infection
by Yingbo Li, Guimei Guo, Longhua Zhou, Yunyun Chen, Yingjie Zong, Jianhua Huang, Ruiju Lu and Chenghong Liu
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2020, 21(1), 151; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21010151 - 24 Dec 2019
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 3001
Abstract
Powdery mildew caused by Blumeria graminis f. sp. hordei (Bgh) is one of the most serious diseases in barley. The numerous barley varieties across China provide valuable genetic resources to screen the resistant germplasm and to discover the primary genes of [...] Read more.
Powdery mildew caused by Blumeria graminis f. sp. hordei (Bgh) is one of the most serious diseases in barley. The numerous barley varieties across China provide valuable genetic resources to screen the resistant germplasm and to discover the primary genes of resistance to powdery mildew. In this study, Chinese barley variety Feng 7 was identified as a highly resistant genotype which limited Bgh colonization by cell apoptosis using leaf staining assay, while another variety Hua 30 showed high susceptibility. The performance of high resistance to Bgh in F1 plants from the two varieties suggested dominant gene(s) controlled the resistance to powdery mildew in Feng 7. To understand the host transcriptional response to Bgh infection, these two barley varieties Feng 7 and Hua 30 were inoculated with Bgh, and their transcriptional profiling using RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) at four time points (12 h post-inoculation (hpi), 24 hpi, 48 hpi, and 72 hpi) were compared. 4318 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), including 2244 upregulated and 2074 downregulated genes, were detected in Feng 7, compared with Hua 30 at 12 hpi. 4907 DEGs (2488 upregulated and 2419 downregulated) were detected at 24 hpi. 4758 DEGs (2295 upregulated and 2463 downregulated) were detected at 48 hpi. 3817 DEGs (2036 upregulated and 1781 downregulated) were detected at 72 hpi. The results showed the number of DEGs between two varieties peaked at 24 hpi (for the upregulated) or 48 hpi (for the downregulated), which is matched with the processing of Bgh infection. In addition, the number of upregulated DEGs involved in the functional pathways of plant defense (mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway and plant hormone signal transduction) is elevated remarkably at 24 hpi. Six candidate genes (PR13, glutaredoxin, alcohol dehydrogenase, and cytochrome P450) were identified in Feng 7. All of them present continuous expression at higher levels upon Bgh infection, compared with the performance in Hua 30, which revealed the potential contribution to Feng 7 mediate resistance to Bgh. In conclusion, the candidate genes and relevant pathways provided key information towards understanding the defense of barley to Bgh attack and the molecular mechanisms of different genetic resistance to powdery mildew. Full article
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14 pages, 3419 KiB  
Article
Overexpression of Magnaporthe Oryzae Systemic Defense Trigger 1 (MoSDT1) Confers Improved Rice Blast Resistance in Rice
by Changmi Wang, Chunqin Li, Guihua Duan, Yunfeng Wang, Yaling Zhang and Jing Yang
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2019, 20(19), 4762; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms20194762 - 25 Sep 2019
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 2933
Abstract
The effector proteins secreted by a pathogen not only promote virulence and infection of the pathogen, but also trigger plant defense response. Therefore, these proteins could be used as important genetic resources for transgenic improvement of plant disease resistance. Magnaporthe oryzae systemic defense [...] Read more.
The effector proteins secreted by a pathogen not only promote virulence and infection of the pathogen, but also trigger plant defense response. Therefore, these proteins could be used as important genetic resources for transgenic improvement of plant disease resistance. Magnaporthe oryzae systemic defense trigger 1 (MoSDT1) is an effector protein. In this study, we compared the agronomic traits and blast disease resistance between wild type (WT) and MoSDT1 overexpressing lines in rice. Under control conditions, MoSDT1 transgenic lines increased the number of tillers without affecting kernel morphology. In addition, MoSDT1 transgenic lines conferred improved blast resistance, with significant effects on the activation of callose deposition, reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation and cell death. On the one hand, overexpression of MoSDT1 could delay biotrophy–necrotrophy switch through regulating the expression of biotrophy-associated secreted protein 4 (BAS4) and Magnaporthe oryzaecell death inducing protein 1 (MoCDIP1), and activate plant defense response by regulating the expression of Bsr-d1, MYBS1, WRKY45, peroxidase (POD), heat shock protein 90 (HSP90), allenoxide synthase 2 (AOS2), phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL), pathogenesis-related protein 1a (PR1a) in rice. On the other hand, overexpression of MoSDT1 could increase the accumulation of some defense-related primary metabolites such as two aromatic amino acids (L-tyrosine and L-tryptohan), 1-aminocyclopropane carboxylic acid, which could be converted to ethylene, vanillic acid and L-saccharopine. Taken together, overexpression of MoSDT1 confers improved rice blast resistance in rice, through modulation of callose deposition, ROS accumulation, the expression of defense-related genes, and the accumulation of some primary metabolites. Full article
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18 pages, 2946 KiB  
Article
Genome-Wide Expression Profiling of Genes Associated with the Lr47-Mediated Wheat Resistance to Leaf Rust (Puccinia triticina)
by Jiaojiao Wu, Jing Gao, Weishuai Bi, Jiaojie Zhao, Xiumei Yu, Zaifeng Li, Daqun Liu, Bo Liu and Xiaodong Wang
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2019, 20(18), 4498; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms20184498 - 11 Sep 2019
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 3053
Abstract
Puccinia triticina (Pt), the causal agent of wheat leaf rust, is one of the most destructive fungal pathogens threatening global wheat cultivations. The rational utilization of leaf rust resistance (Lr) genes is still the most efficient method for the [...] Read more.
Puccinia triticina (Pt), the causal agent of wheat leaf rust, is one of the most destructive fungal pathogens threatening global wheat cultivations. The rational utilization of leaf rust resistance (Lr) genes is still the most efficient method for the control of such diseases. The Lr47 gene introgressed from chromosome 7S of Aegilops speltoides still showed high resistance to the majority of Pt races collected in China. However, the Lr47 gene has not been cloned yet, and the regulatory network of the Lr47-mediated resistance has not been explored. In the present investigation, transcriptome analysis was applied on RNA samples from three different wheat lines (“Yecora Rojo”, “UC1037”, and “White Yecora”) carrying the Lr47 gene three days post-inoculation with the epidemic Pt race THTT. A comparison between Pt-inoculated and water-inoculated “Lr47-Yecora Rojo” lines revealed a total number of 863 upregulated (q-value < 0.05 and log2foldchange > 1) and 418 downregulated (q-value < 0.05 and log2foldchange < −1) genes. Specifically, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) located on chromosomes 7AS, 7BS, and 7DS were identified, ten of which encoded receptor-like kinases (RLKs). The expression patterns of these RLK genes were further determined by a time-scale qRT-PCR assay. Moreover, heatmaps for the expression profiles of pathogenesis-related (PR) genes and several transcription factor gene families were generated. Using a transcriptomic approach, we initially profiled the transcriptional changes associated with the Lr47-mediated resistance. The identified DEGs, particularly those genes encoding RLKs, might serve as valuable genetic resources for the improvement of wheat resistance to Pt. Full article
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17 pages, 3904 KiB  
Article
Transcriptome Analysis of Chinese Chestnut (Castanea mollissima Blume) in Response to Dryocosmus kuriphilus Yasumatsu Infestation
by Cancan Zhu, Fenghou Shi, Yu Chen, Min Wang, Yuqiang Zhao and Guomin Geng
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2019, 20(4), 855; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms20040855 - 15 Feb 2019
Cited by 19 | Viewed by 4506
Abstract
Chinese chestnut (Castanea mollissima Blume) can be infested by Dryocosmus kuriphilus Yasumatsu, resulting in gall formation and yield losses. Research on the control of gall wasps using genomics approaches is rarely reported. We used RNA-seq to investigate the dynamic changes in the [...] Read more.
Chinese chestnut (Castanea mollissima Blume) can be infested by Dryocosmus kuriphilus Yasumatsu, resulting in gall formation and yield losses. Research on the control of gall wasps using genomics approaches is rarely reported. We used RNA-seq to investigate the dynamic changes in the genes of a chestnut species (C. mollissima B.) during four gall-formation stages caused by D. kuriphilus. A total of 21,306 genes were annotated by BLAST in databases. Transcriptome comparison between different gall-formation stages revealed many genes that were differentially expressed compared to the control. Among these, 2410, 7373, 6294, and 9412 genes were differentially expressed in four gall-formation stages: initiation stage (A), early growth stage (B), late growth stage (C), and maturation stage (D), respectively. Annotation analysis indicated that many metabolic processes (e.g., phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, secondary metabolism, plant–pathogen interaction) were affected. Interesting genes encoding putative components of signal transduction, stress response, and transcription factors were also differentially regulated. These genes might play important roles in response to D. kuriphilus gall formation. These new data on the mechanism by which D. kuriphilus infests chestnuts could help improve chestnut resistance. Full article
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Review

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25 pages, 1609 KiB  
Review
Evolution of Disease Defense Genes and Their Regulators in Plants
by Rongzhi Zhang, Fengya Zheng, Shugen Wei, Shujuan Zhang, Genying Li, Peijian Cao and Shancen Zhao
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2019, 20(2), 335; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms20020335 - 15 Jan 2019
Cited by 30 | Viewed by 6409
Abstract
Biotic stresses do damage to the growth and development of plants, and yield losses for some crops. Confronted with microbial infections, plants have evolved multiple defense mechanisms, which play important roles in the never-ending molecular arms race of plant–pathogen interactions. The complicated defense [...] Read more.
Biotic stresses do damage to the growth and development of plants, and yield losses for some crops. Confronted with microbial infections, plants have evolved multiple defense mechanisms, which play important roles in the never-ending molecular arms race of plant–pathogen interactions. The complicated defense systems include pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMP) triggered immunity (PTI), effector triggered immunity (ETI), and the exosome-mediated cross-kingdom RNA interference (CKRI) system. Furthermore, plants have evolved a classical regulation system mediated by miRNAs to regulate these defense genes. Most of the genes/small RNAs or their regulators that involve in the defense pathways can have very rapid evolutionary rates in the longitudinal and horizontal co-evolution with pathogens. According to these internal defense mechanisms, some strategies such as molecular switch for the disease resistance genes, host-induced gene silencing (HIGS), and the new generation of RNA-based fungicides, have been developed to control multiple plant diseases. These broadly applicable new strategies by transgene or spraying ds/sRNA may lead to reduced application of pesticides and improved crop yield. Full article
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