Abscisic Acid Insensitive 4 transcription factor is an important player in the response of Arabidopsis thaliana to two-spotted spider mite (Tetranychus urticae) feeding

Abstract

Plants growing in constantly changeable environmental conditions are compelled to evolve regulatory mechanisms to cope with biotic and abiotic stresses. Effective defence to invaders is largely connected with phytohormone regulation, resulting in the production of numerous defensive proteins and specialized metabolites. In our work, we elucidated the role of the Abscisic Acid Insensitive 4 (ABI4) transcription factor in the plant response to the two-spotted spider mite (TSSM). This polyphagous mite is one of the most destructive herbivores, which sucks mesophyll cells of numerous crop and wild plants. Compared to the wild-type (Col-0) Arabidopsis thaliana plants, the abi4 mutant demonstrated increased susceptibility to TSSM, reflected as enhanced female fecundity and greater frequency of mite leaf damage after trypan blue staining. Because ABI4 is regarded as an important player in the plastid-to-nucleus retrograde signalling process, we investigated the plastid envelope membrane dynamics using stroma-associated fluorescent marker. Our results indicated a clear increase in the number of stroma-filled tubular structures deriving from the plastid membrane (stromules) in the close proximity of the site of mite leaf damage, highlighting the importance of chloroplast-derived signals in the response to TSSM feeding activity.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s10493-017-0203-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Plant Defenses Against Tetranychus urticae: Mind the Gaps

“…More recently, differences have also been found in spider mite-regulated auxin levels in thale cress [42]. In addition, metabolic and hormonal pathways are shared with other environmental biotic and abiotic stimuli, and such mutual interference was reported for light stress-mites and aphid-mite interaction [84,85].…”

“…It has been demonstrated the emission of ET and other volatiles in tomato and lima bean, which are triggered by spider mite attack [44,47,83]. In addition, the abscisic acid (ABA) insensitive 4 transcription factor (ABI4) has been identified as a crucial component of chloroplast retrograde signaling that regulates mite-associated thale cress defense controlled by ABA [84]. More recently, differences have also been found in spider mite-regulated auxin levels in thale cress [42].…”

Unravelling the Complexity of Plant Defense Induced by a Simultaneous and Sequential Mite and Aphid Infestation

“…It probably manipulates plant defense (e.g., by suppression, induction or counteraction) [ 13 , 14 , 15 ] using effector-like proteins occurring in its saliva [ 23 ] and digestive proteases in the midgut [ 24 ]. In response to mite saliva and chelicerae wounding, the mite-infested host-plant defends itself by activating the JA-, ET-, SA- and ABA-dependent signal-transduction pathways [ 13 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 ].…”

Exposure to High-Intensity Light Systemically Induces Micro-Transcriptomic Changes in Arabidopsis thaliana Roots

“…In the case of two other miRNA targets, research suggests their possible role in regulating nuclear genes coding for proteins involved in basic processes in chloroplasts, namely, translation (miR394a/ HCF109 [52]) and plastid division (miR8175/ FtsZ2-1 [53]). We speculate that plastids, besides the relatively low abundance in root cells, may nevertheless function there as specific stress hubs [69,70], which can explain the existence of systemically induced and miRNA-dependent regulatory modules. Engagement of Arabidopsis root leucoplasts by the stress response was also postulated by Itoh and Fujiwara [71].…”