Histone acetyltransferase TaHAG1 interacts with TaPLATZ5 to activate TaPAD4 expression and positively contributes to powdery mildew resistance in wheat

Abstract

Plants have evolved a two-branched innate immune system to detect and cope with pathogen attack, which are initiated by cell-surface and intracellular immune receptors leading to pattern-triggered immunity (PTI) and effector-triggered immunity (ETI), respectively. A core transducer including PAD4-EDS1 node is proposed as the convergence point for a twotiered immune system in conferring pathogen immunity. However, the transcriptional regulatory mechanisms controlling expression of these key transducers remain largely unknown.Here, we identified histone acetyltransferase TaHAG1 as a positive regulator of powdery mildew resistance in wheat. TaHAG1 regulates expression of key transducer gene TaPAD4 and promotes SA and reactive oxygen species accumulation to accomplish resistance to Bgt infection.Moreover, overexpression and CRISPR-mediated knockout of TaPAD4 validate its role in wheat powdery mildew resistance. Furthermore, TaHAG1 physically interacts with TaPLATZ5, a plant-specific zinc-binding protein. TaPLATZ5 directly binds to promoter of TaPAD4 and together with TaHAG1 to potentiate the expression of TaPAD4 by increasing the levels of H3 acetylation.Our study revealed a key transcription regulatory node in which TaHAG1 acts as an epigenetic modulator and interacts with TaPLATZ5 that confers powdery mildew resistance in wheat through activating a convergence point gene between PTI and ETI, which could be effective for genetic improvement of disease resistance in wheat and other crops.

Wheat plant height locusRHT25encodes a PLATZ transcription factor that interacts with DELLA (RHT1)

“…A previous phylogenetic study of the 62 PLATZ genes identified in wheat ( TaPLATZ1 to TaPLATZ62 ) revealed six groups (I to VI) (25), with TraesCS6A02G156600 (TaPLATZ34 ) included in Group III (25). The two previously characterized wheat PLATZ genes belong to Group I ( TaPLATZ5, TraesCS2D02G447400 ) (26) and Group II ( TaFl3, TraesCS3A02G497900 ) (27), so no functional information is currently available for wheat genes from Group III.…”

Novel stripe rust effector boosts the transcription of a host susceptibility factor through affecting histone modification to promote infection in wheat

“…Indeed, during the plant–pathogen interaction, the induction of immune‐responsive genes is usually associated with increased H3 acetylation levels (Yang et al ., 2015). A recent study demonstrated that the histone acetyltransferase TaHAG1 interacts with TaPLATZ5 to activate TaPAD4 expression by increasing the levels of H3 acetylation and positively contributes to powdery mildew resistance in wheat (Song et al ., 2022). By contrast, in the absence of a pathogen, the transcription of plant defense‐related genes, as well as NLR resistance genes, are tightly controlled through the deacetylation of H3 (Yang et al ., 2020; Wu et al ., 2021).…”

Molecular mapping of two recessive genes controlling resistance to bacterial leaf pustule disease in soybean (Glycine max)

“…Most of these genes were involved in transport, carbohydrate metabolism, catalytic activities, transcription and replication processes (Table S1). However, some of these genes have been reported to be involved in biotic stress resistance (Figure 4c) such as MLO‐like protein 1 (Jørgensen, 1992); LHP 1 (Ramirez‐Prado et al, 2019); histone acetyl transferase (Song Song et al, 2022); replication factor C (Xia et al, 2009); FAR1 (Wang et al, 2016), DEAD box RNA helicase 50 (Jadhav et al, 2018); peptidyl‐prolyl cis‐trans isomerase (Mokryakova et al, 2014); and glycosyl hydrolase family 10 (Kim et al, 2021). MLO is a transmembrane protein and provides resistance by effective arrest of fungal pathogen at early stages of prepenetration by forming enlarged cell wall apposition at the site of fungal penetration followed by callose deposition and generation of anti‐oxidants (Hückelhoven et al, 2000; Piffanelli et al, 2002).…”