GhERF‐IIb3 regulates the accumulation of jasmonate and leads to enhanced cotton resistance to blight disease

Abstract

The phytohormone jasmonic acid (JA) and its derivatives, collectively referred to as jasmonates, regulate many developmental processes, but are also involved in the response to numerous abiotic/biotic stresses. Thus far, powerful reverse genetic strategies employing perception, signalling or biosynthesis mutants have broadly contributed to our understanding of the role of JA in the plant stress response and development, as has the chemical gain-of-function approach based on exogenous application of the hormone. However, there is currently no method that allows for tightly controlled JA production in planta. By investigating the control of the JA synthesis pathway in bacteria-infected cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) plants, we identified a transcription factor (TF), named GhERF-IIb3, which acts as a positive regulator of the JA pathway. Expression of this well-conserved TF in cotton leaves was sufficient to produce in situ JA accumulation at physiological concentrations associated with an enhanced cotton defence response to bacterial infection.

Inference of the gene regulatory network acting downstream of CROWN ROOTLESS 1 in rice reveals a regulatory cascade linking genes involved in auxin signaling, crown root initiation, and root meristem specification and maintenance

“…Protoplasts from 9‐day‐old etiolated rice seedlings were produced and transformed using the protocol described by Cacas et al . (), with a few modifications related to protoplast isolation. Vacuum was applied to rice seedling sections soaking in enzymatic solution for 10 min, followed by 4 hours of digestion in dark conditions at 28°C.…”

Long noncoding RNAs involve in resistance to Verticillium dahliae, a fungal disease in cotton

“…SA can activate effective defence responses against hemibiotrophs and biotrophs, which are important for the establishment of systemic acquired resistance (SAR) (Dempsey and Klessig, 2012;Yang et al, 2015). JA functions with ethylene to activate resistance against necrotrophic pathogens (Cacas et al, 2016;Thaler et al, 2004).…”

How Very-Long-Chain Fatty Acids Could Signal Stressful Conditions in Plants?

“…Because of its low abundance, phosphatidic acid is commonly evidenced by in vivo isotopic labeling experiments (Arisz et al, 2009 ; Cacas et al, 2016a ). Another example that could be cited is that of the FA-derived hormonal signal jasmonic acid that requires highly sensitive liquid chromatography-based methods for efficient quantification (Glauser and Wolfender, 2013 ; Cacas et al, 2016b ). Additionally, to the best of our knowledge, marked degradation of the respective lipid substrates alimenting the two latter signaling cascades were rarely correlated with signal generation.…”