Lignin Synthesis Related Genes with Potential Significance in the Response of Upland Cotton to Fusarium Wilt Identified by Transcriptome Profiling

Abstract

Fusarium wilt, caused by the fungus Fusarium oxysporum Schlecht. f. sp. vasinfectum (Fov) is a destructive soil-borne cotton disease. To profile the genes and pathways responding to Fov infection, we compared transcriptomic responses before and after F. oxysporum inoculation in a highly resistant cotton cultivar, Yumian21, and a highly susceptible cultivar, Jimian11. Although the overall gene expression pattern was downregulated in both cultivars, the global gene expression in the resistant cultivar was stronger than that in the susceptible cultivar. In addition, the expressed genes of two cultivars mostly differed in “cellular process,” “single-organism process,” “metabolic process,” and “response to stimulus” functional groups in the biological process Gene Ontology category: the upregulated differentially expressed genes (DEG) were largely enriched in the resistant cultivar, while the downregulated DEGs were largely enriched in the susceptible cultivar. Phenylpropanoid biosynthesis and phenylalanine metabolism are the key metabolic pathways in cotton in response to Fov. We found that lignin plays a potential role in cotton resistance to Fov. Two coding genes, caffeic acid 3-O-methyltransferase and peroxidase2, as well as the two transcription factors MYB46 and MYB86, are possibly involved in the accumulation and synthesis of lignin. Furthermore, the result showed that the quantification of lignin could be potentially used as a selection tool to identify Fusarium wilt resistant cotton.

Resistant cumin cultivar, GC-4 counters Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cumini infection through up-regulation of steroid biosynthesis, limonene and pinene degradation and butanoate metabolism pathways

“…Several hundred plant species are susceptible to F. oxysporum , including economically important food crops like cumin, coriander, legumes, vegetables, and melons. In the recent years, transcriptome analysis has been performed in different crops like sesame ( Wei et al., 2016 ), banana ( Sun et al., 2019 ; Dong et al., 2020 ), flax ( Boba et al., 2021 ), cotton ( Hou et al., 2021 ), some pulse crops like mung bean ( Chang et al., 2021 ) and common bean ( Leitão et al., 2021 ) to elucidate the enrichment of pathways or genes for fusarium wilt resistance. Since the cumin defense mechanism against wilt pathogens has not yet been revealed, we attempted to recognize the genes and pathways associated with fusarium wilt resistance in different cultivars by comparing their transcriptome.…”

“…Up-regulation of these genes during fungal infection have been supported by some previous reports like, LRR-RLK in resistant rubber tree against Corynespora cassiicola ( Roy et al., 2019 ), transcription factors WRKY, and MYB in apple plant showing resistance against Fusarium proliferatum f. sp. malus domestica ( Duan et al., 2022 ), superoxide dismutase, catalase, ascorbate peroxidase and monodehydroascorbate reductase in resistant plant of cucumber against the infection of Alternaria cucumerina ( Sa et al., 2022 ), ascorbate and carotenoids in pepper against Fusarium infection ( Zhu et al., 2021 ), calcium-dependent protein kinase (CDPK) and R-proteins in banana resistant plant against wilt pathogen ( Sun et al., 2019 ), calmodulin (CaM) and calmodulin-like protein (CML) in wild cabbage resistant to Plasmodiophora brassicae during infection ( Zhang et al., 2016 ), pathogenesis related protein-1 (PR-1) and PR-2 in rose in response to powdery mildew ( Chandran et al., 2021 ), in tomato plants infected with F. oxysporum ( Slezina et al., 2021 ), chitinase and glucanase in apple plant resistant to Fusarium infection ( Duan et al., 2022 ), defensin-like protein 1 in tomato plants infected with F. oxysporum ( Slezina et al., 2021 ) and lignin biosynthesis in cotton during Fusarium wilt infection ( Hou et al., 2021 ). Several ROS scavenging enzymes were more expressed in GC-4 during Foc infection.…”

“…In recent years, transcriptome analysis in different crops like flax ( Boba et al., 2021 ), cotton ( Hou et al., 2021 ), banana ( Dong et al., 2020 ), mung bean ( Chang et al., 2021 ), and common bean ( Leitão et al., 2021 ) have been performed to elucidate the genes and pathways for fusarium wilt (caused by different subspecies or special forms of F. oxysporum in different crops) resistance. Response of plants towards F. oxysporum infection varied in different crops.…”

Defense Mechanisms of Cotton Fusarium and Verticillium Wilt and Comparison of Pathogenic Response in Cotton and Humans

“…Resistance of cotton to wild-type fungal diseases is largely dependent on lignin content, and its levels can be used as an indicator of resistance against Fusarium wilt [ 65 ]. Transcriptome analysis suggests that caffeic acid 3-O-methyltransferase (COMT) and peroxidase 2 (POD2) may be involved in the synthesis and accumulation of lignin in response to Fusarium cotton wilt [ 66 ]. Patatin-like proteins (PLPs) are defense proteins with non-specific lipid acyl hydrolytic activity that hydrolyze cell membranes into fatty acids and lysophospholipids.…”

Regulatory Network of Cotton Genes in Response to Salt, Drought and Wilt Diseases (Verticillium and Fusarium): Progress and Perspective

“…Increasing evidence shows that lignin content is positively correlated with resistance to fungal wilt ( Xu et al, 2011 ). Two coding genes in cotton, caffeic acid 3-O-methyltransferase and peroxidase2 , are probably involved in the accumulation and synthesis of lignin in response to Fusarium wilt ( Hou et al, 2021 ). Hence, quantification of lignin can be used as a selection tool to identify Fusarium resistant cotton.…”