Brassica napus is highly susceptible towards Verticillium longisporum (Vl43) with no effective genetic resistance. It is believed that the fungus reprogrammes plant physiological processes by up-regulation of so-called susceptibility factors to establish a compatible interaction. By transcriptome analysis, we identified genes, which were activated/up-regulated in rapeseed after Vl43 infection. To test whether one of these genes is functionally involved in the infection process and loss of function would lead to decreased susceptibility, we firstly challenged KO lines of corresponding Arabidopsis orthologs with Vl43 and compared them with wild-type plants. Here, we report that the KO of AtCRT1a results in drastically reduced susceptibility of plants to Vl43. To prove crt1a mutation also decreases susceptibility in B. napus, we identified 10 mutations in a TILLING population. Three T3 mutants displayed increased resistance as compared to the wild type. To validate the results, we generated CRISPR/Cas-induced BnCRT1a mutants, challenged T2 plants with Vl43 and observed an overall reduced susceptibility in 3 out of 4 independent lines. Genotyping by allele-specific sequencing suggests a major effect of mutations in the CRT1a A-genome copy, while the C-genome copy appears to have no significant impact on plant susceptibility when challenged with Vl43. As revealed by transcript analysis, the loss of function of CRT1a results in activation of the ethylene signalling pathway, which may contribute to reduced susceptibility. Furthermore, this study demonstrates a novel strategy with great potential to improve plant disease resistance.
One of the most remarkable developments in world politics in the last two decades has been the rise of China as a great power. Today it is the most important challenger of the USAthe longtime, but now declining, absolute hegemon among the imperialist stateson economic, political, as well as military levels. China's rise has been the result of the combination of a rapid process of capital accumulation based on the super-exploitation of the domestic working class as well as foreign and internal colonies, the existence of a Stalinist-capitalist one-party dictatorship, China's foreign policy projects (e.g., the "Belt & Road Initiative"), and the building of a powerful army. Economic Power A process of rapid capitalist accumulation during the 1980s and the 1990s laid the basis for the rise of China as an economic power operating on
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