A pathogen may cause infected plants to promote the performance of its transmitting vector, which accelerates the spread of the pathogen. This positive effect of a pathogen on its vector via their shared host plant is termed indirect mutualism. For example, terpene biosynthesis is suppressed in begomovirus-infected plants, leading to reduced plant resistance and enhanced performance of the whiteflies (Bemisia tabaci) that transmit these viruses. Although begomovirus-whitefly mutualism has been known, the underlying mechanism is still elusive. Here, we identified bC1 of Tomato yellow leaf curl China virus, a monopartite begomovirus, as the viral genetic factor that suppresses plant terpene biosynthesis. bC1 directly interacts with the basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor MYC2 to compromise the activation of MYC2-regulated terpene synthase genes, thereby reducing whitefly resistance. MYC2 associates with the bipartite begomoviral protein BV1, suggesting that MYC2 is an evolutionarily conserved target of begomoviruses for the suppression of terpene-based resistance and the promotion of vector performance. Our findings describe how this viral pathogen regulates host plant metabolism to establish mutualism with its insect vector.

No abstract

The interplay of plant hormones and glucose (Glu) in regulating glucosinolate accumulation in Arabidopsis thaliana was investigated in this study. Glucose-induced glucosinolate biosynthesis was enhanced significantly by the addition of jasmonic acid (JA), whereas the synergistic effect of salicylic acid (SA) and Glu was less obvious. The enhanced glucosinolate accumulation is associated with elevated expression of genes in glucosinolate biosynthetic pathway, as well as the transcription factors involved in their regulation, such as MYB28, MYB29, MYB34, and MYB122. The induction of indolic and aliphatic glucosinolates after treatment with JA and Glu in JA-insensitive mutants, coi1, jar1, and jin1, was compromised. Moreover, the effect of JA and Glu on glucosinolate contents was dramatically reduced in Glu-insensitive mutants, rgs1-2 and abi5-7. These results indicate a crosstalk between JA and Glu signalling in the regulation of glucosinolate biosynthesis. JA signalling, RGS1 (the putative membrane receptor of Glu signalling), and ABI5, are involved in the synergistic effect of JA and Glu on glucosinolate accumulation.

The effect of 24-epibrassinolide (EBR) on glucosinolate biosynthesis in Arabidopsis thaliana was investigated in the present study by using mutants and transgenic plants involved in brassinosteroid (BR) biosynthesis and signal transduction, as well as glucosinolate biosynthesis. The results showed that EBR significantly decreased the contents of major aliphatic glucosinolates including glucoiberin (S3), glucoraphanin (S4), and glucoerucin (T4), as well as the indolic glucosinolates glucobrassicin (IM) and neoglucobrassicin (1IM). In addition, a significantly higher level of glucosinolates accumulated in the BR-deficient mutant cpd and a dramatically lower glucosinolate content in the transgenic plant DWF4-ox overexpressing the BR biosynthetic gene DWF4 compared with their related wild-types, confirmed the repressing effect of BR on glucosinolate biosynthesis. BRI1, the receptor of BR signal transduction, was involved in regulation of glucosinolate biosynthesis by BR. Furthermore, the observation of reduced content of glucosinolates and lower expression levels of glucosinolate biosynthetic genes in 35S-BZR1/bzr1-1D and bes1-D plants compared with the corresponding wild-types suggested that BZR1 and BES1, two important components in BR signal transduction, are responsible for the inhibiting role of BR in glucosinolate biosynthesis. The disappearance of the repressing effect of BR on glucosinolate content in the myb28, myb34, and myb122 mutants indicated that these three MYB factors are important for the regulation of BR in glucosinolate biosynthesis.

The effects of industrial pre-freezing processing and freezing handling on the contents of glucosinolates and antioxidants (vitamin C, polyphenols, carotenoid and chlorophyll), as well as the antioxidant capacity in broccoli (Brassica oleracea L. var. italica) florets were investigated in the present study. Our results showed that the glucosinolate accumulations were significantly decreased after pre-freezing processing, whereas elevated levels of phenols, carotenoids, chlorophyll, and also antioxidant capacity were observed in frozen broccoli florets. The contents of vitamin C remained constant during above mentioned processing. In conclusion, the current industrial freezing processing method is a good practice for the preservation of main antioxidant nutrients in broccoli florets, although some improvements in pre-freezing processing, such as steam blanching and ice-water cooling, are needed to attenuate the decrease in glucosinolate content.