Suppression of the homeobox gene HDTF_1 enhances resistance to Verticillium dahliae and Botrytis cinerea in cotton

作     者：Wei Gao Lu Long Li Xu Keith Lindsey Xianlong Zhang Longfu Zhu 

作者机构：National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement Huazhong Agricultural University State Key Laboratory of Cotton Biology Henan Key Laboratory of Plant Stress Biology School of Life Sciences Henan University Integrative Cell Biology Laboratory School of Biological and Biomedical Sciences University of Durham 

出 版 物：《Journal of Integrative Plant Biology》 (植物学报（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2016年第58卷第5期

页      面：503-513页

核心收录：

学科分类：0710[理学-生物学] 09[农学] 0904[农学-植物保护] 0901[农学-作物学] 0703[理学-化学] 090401[农学-植物病理学] 0902[农学-园艺学] 090402[农学-农业昆虫与害虫防治] 

基　　金：financially supported by the International Science&Technology Cooperation Program of China(No.2015DFA30860) a grant from Ministry of Agriculture of China(No.2014ZX0800503B) 

主　　题：Botrytis cinerea cotton jasmonic acid Verticillium dahliae virus-induced gene silencing 

摘      要：Development of pathogen-resistant crops, such as fungus-resistant cotton, has significantly reduced chemical application and improved crop yield and quality. However, the mechanism of resistance to cotton pathogens such as Verticillium dahliae is still poorly understood. In this study, we characterized a cotton gene （HDTF1） that was isolated following transcriptome profiling during the resistance response of cotton to V. dahliae. HDTFI putatively encodes a homeodomain transcription factor, and its expression was found to be down-regulated in cotton upon inoculation with V. dahliae and Botrytis cinerea. To characterise the involvement of HDTF1 in the response to these pathogens, we used virusinduced gene silencing （VlGS） to generate HDTFl-silenced cotton. VIGS reduction in HDTF1 expression significantly enhanced cotton plant resistance to both pathogens. HDTF1 silencing resulted in activation of jasmonic acid （JA）-mediated signaling and JA accumulation. However, the silenced plants were not altered in the accumulation of salicylic acid （SA） or the expression of marker genes associated with SA signaling. These results suggest that HDTF1 is a negative regulator of the JA pathway, and resistance to V. dahliae and B. cinerea can be engineered by activation of JA signaling.