Ecotopic Expression of the Antimicrobial Peptide DmAMP1W Improves Resistance of Transgenic Wheat to Two Diseases: Sharp Eyespot and Common Root Rot

Abstract

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is an important staple crop. Sharp eyespot and common root rot are destructive diseases of wheat. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are small peptides with broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity. In this study, we synthesized the DmAMP1W gene, encoding Dahlia merckii DmAMP1, and investigated the antifungal role of DmAMP1W in vitro and in transgenic wheat. Protein electrophoresis analysis and in vitro inhibition results demonstrated that the synthesized DmAMP1W correctly translated to the expected peptide DmAMP1W, and the purified peptide inhibited growths of the fungi Rhizoctonia cerealis and Bipolaris sorokiniana, the pathogenic causes of wheat sharp eyespot and common root rot. DmAMP1W was introduced into a wheat variety Zhoumai18 via Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. The molecular characteristics indicated that DmAMP1W could be heritable and expressed in five transgenic wheat lines in T1–T2 generations. Average sharp eyespot infection types of these five DmAMP1W transgenic wheat lines in T1–T2 generations decreased 0.69–1.54 and 0.40–0.82 compared with non-transformed Zhoumai18, respectively. Average common root rot infection types of these transgenic lines and non-transformed Zhoumai18 were 1.23–1.48 and 2.27, respectively. These results indicated that DmAMP1W-expressing transgenic wheat lines displayed enhanced-resistance to both sharp eyespot and common root rot. This study provides new broad-spectrum antifungal resources for wheat breeding.

Identification of new resistance loci against wheat sharp eyespot through genome-wide association study

“…The disease resistance mechanism in plants is relatively complex, which involves the activation of disease resistance genes, pathogenesis-related genes, transcription factors, mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways, and recognition of pathogen-associated patterns or effectors. Thus far, 9 resistance genes have been cloned for wheat resistance to sharp eyespot, and the types of resistance genes are diversified, such as COMT ( Wang et al., 2018 ), pathogen-induced ERF1 ( Wei et al., 2016 ), TaAGC1 ( Zhu et al., 2015 ), RcCUT1 ( Lu et al., 2018 ), TaCAD12 ( Rong et al., 2016 ), PP2A ( Zhu et al., 2018 ), TaCPK7-D ( Wei et al., 2016 ), TaRCR1 ( Zhu et al., 2017 ), TaRIM1 ( Shan et al., 2016 ), and DmAMP1W ( Su et al., 2020 ). These genes all contributed to sharp eyespot resistance and can serve as potential QTLs for plant disease resistance.…”

Functional Redundancy of FLOWERING LOCUS T 3b in Soybean Flowering Time Regulation

“…The first trifoliate leaf of GmFT3b -overexpressing seedlings was harvested and conserved under −80 °C. The total soluble proteins were extracted using the plant protein extraction protocol as described previously [ 50 ]. The total nuclear proteins were extracted using the nuclear and cytoplasmic extraction kit (CWBIO, Beijing, China).…”

Burkholderia ambifaria XN08: A plant growth-promoting endophytic bacterium with biocontrol potential against sharp eyespot in wheat

“…The wheat sharp eyespot, caused predominately by the necrotrophic fungus Rhizoctonia cerealis , is one of the most destructive soil-borne fungal diseases in wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) and results in yield losses of 10%−40% in the regions of Asia, Oceania, Europe, North America, and Africa (Wang et al, 2018 ; Zhao et al, 2021 ). This fungal pathogen can survive in soils or the infected crop residues for a long time, and it reinfects the stems and sheaths of wheat plants in the favorable environmental conditions, blocks the transportation of nutrients, and eventually leads to host death (Su et al, 2020 ). Traditional agrochemicals, which were still widely used for the effective control of wheat sharp eyespot, had led to an increase in environmental pollution and induced pesticide resistance (Zhang et al, 2017 ).…”