Interfamily Transfer of TomatoVe1MediatesVerticilliumResistance in Arabidopsis      

Abstract

Vascular wilts caused by soil-borne fungal species of the Verticillium genus are devastating plant diseases. The most common species, Verticillium dahliae and Verticillium albo-atrum, have broad host ranges and are notoriously difficult to control. Therefore, genetic resistance is the preferred method for disease control. Only from tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) has a Verticillium resistance locus been cloned, comprising the Ve1 gene that encodes a receptor-like protein-type cell surface receptor. Due to lack of a suitable model for receptor-like protein (RLP)-mediated resistance signaling in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), so far relatively little is known about RLP signaling in pathogen resistance. Here, we show that Ve1 remains fully functional after interfamily transfer to Arabidopsis and that Ve1-transgenic Arabidopsis is resistant to race 1 but not to race 2 strains of V. dahliae and V. albo-atrum, nor to the Brassicaceae-specific pathogen Verticillium longisporum. Furthermore, we show that signaling components utilized by Ve1 in Arabidopsis to establish Verticillium resistance overlap with those required in tomato and include SERK3/BAK1, EDS1, and NDR1, which strongly suggests that critical components for resistance signaling are conserved. We subsequently investigated the requirement of SERK family members for Ve1 resistance in Arabidopsis, revealing that SERK1 is required in addition to SERK3/BAK1. Using virus-induced gene silencing, the requirement of SERK1 for Ve1-mediated resistance was confirmed in tomato. Moreover, we show the requirement of SERK1 for resistance against the foliar fungal pathogen Cladosporium fulvum mediated by the RLP Cf-4. Our results demonstrate that Arabidopsis can be used as model to unravel the genetics of Ve1-mediated resistance.

Cotton WRKY1 Mediates the Plant Defense-to-Development Transition during Infection of Cotton byVerticillium dahliaeby ActivatingJASMONATE ZIM-DOMAIN1Expression

“…Several lines of evidence have suggested that JA signaling is also required for plant resistance to V. dahliae, as revealed by the exogenous application of MeJA (Fig. 2, A and B) and by genetic and molecular biology analyses in Arabidopsis and cotton (Fradin et al, 2011;Gao et al, 2013). Furthermore, GbWRKY1 showed clear negative regulation in JA-mediated defense gene expression and anthocyanin accumulation (Fig.…”

“…Moreover, Verticillium wilt Ve1-mediated resistance is compromised in the Arabidopsis JA response mutant jar1-1 (Fradin et al, 2011), and the JA signaling pathway can be activated in cotton by inoculation with V. dahliae , suggesting that JA plays an important role in cotton resistance to V. dahliae. To further evaluate the role of JA in cotton's defense against V. dahliae, cotton seedlings were treated with methyl jasmonate (MeJA) 2 d before inoculation with V. dahliae.…”

The Ankyrin-Repeat Transmembrane Protein BDA1 Functions Downstream of the Receptor-Like Protein SNC2 to Regulate Plant Immunity

“…A small number of RLPs, such as the tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) Cf and Ve proteins and the apple (Malus domestica) HcrVf2 protein, were shown to function as R proteins (Jones et al, 1994;Kawchuk et al, 2001;Belfanti et al, 2004;Fradin et al, 2009). Interestingly, Ve1-mediated resistance to Verticillium requires BAK1 (Fradin et al, 2009(Fradin et al, , 2011. Two other RLPs, tomato Eix1 and Eix2, function as receptors for the fungal ethylene-inducing xylanase (Ron and Avni, 2004).…”

New insights into receptor-like protein functions in Arabidopsis

“…4 In addition, it has been found that RLPs are important players in disease resistance. The RLP disease resistance genes include the tomato Cf and Ve genes that provide resistance against Cladosporium fulvum and Verticillium spp., respectively, 5,6 LeEIX genes that combat against the ethylene-inducing xylanase produced from Trichoderma biocontrol fungi, 7 apple HcrVf genes that confer resistance to the scab fungus Venturia inaequalis, 8 the LepR3 and Rlm2 genes that render race-specific resistance to the fungal pathogen Leptosphaeria maculans. 9,10 Genome-wide sequence analyses identified a total of 57 AtRLPs in Arabidopsis.…”

“…1 Nevertheless, the generation of gain-of-function mutants has produced invaluable information on the function of AtRLP genes such as TMM, Ve1, AtRLP23 and AtRLP44. 6,15,17,21 We thus performed a genome-wide functional analysis of AtRLP genes using overexpression analysis to gain additional insights into their potential roles in various aspects such as Arabidopsis growth and development, and salt tolerance. 20 Despite the absence of any phenotypic alterations under normal growth condition, the overexpression of AtRLP3 and AtRLP11 could rescue the clv2-1 mutant.…”