Silencing GhNDR1 and GhMKK2 compromises cotton resistance to Verticillium wilt

Cotton is an important cash crop worldwide, and is a significant source of fiber, feed, foodstuff, oil and biofuel products. Considerable effort has been expended to increase sustainable yield and quality through molecular breeding and genetic engineering of new cotton cultivars. Given the recent availability of the whole-genome sequence of cotton, it is necessary to develop molecular tools and resources for large-scale analysis of gene functions at the genome-wide level. We have successfully developed an Agrobacterium-mediated virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) assay in several cotton cultivars with various genetic backgrounds. The genes of interest were potently and readily silenced within 2 weeks after inoculation at the seedling stage. Importantly, we showed that silencing GhNDR1 and GhMKK2 compromised cotton resistance to the infection by Verticillium dahliae, a fungal pathogen causing Verticillium wilt. Furthermore, we developed a cotton protoplast system for transient gene expression to study gene functions by a gain-of-function approach. The viable protoplasts were isolated from green cotyledons, etiolated cotyledons and true leaves, and responded to a wide range of pathogen elicitors and phytohormones. Remarkably, cotton plants possess conserved, but also distinct, MAP kinase activation with Arabidopsis upon bacterial elicitor flagellin perception. Thus, using gene silencing assays, we have shown that GhNDR1 and GhMKK2 are required for Verticillium resistance in cotton, and have developed high throughput loss-of-function and gain-of-function assays for functional genomic studies in cotton.     

棉花枯萎、黄萎病拮抗芽孢杆菌的抗菌蛋白特性

从土贝母和腊肠等中药和发酵食品中筛选出对棉花枯萎、黄萎病菌有广谱拮抗作用的芽孢杆菌29株,其中有12株菌产抗菌蛋白。有5株抑菌活性较强:H110、H184、H216、B316和B382。经初步鉴定,H110和H184为枯草芽孢杆菌,H216、B316和B382为地衣芽孢杆菌。5株菌的蛋白粗提液对热稳定,对蛋白酶K、胰蛋白酶均不敏感,但H184、H216的蛋白粗提液对胃蛋白酶部分敏感。     

Reaction of Cotton Cultivars and an F2 Population to Stem Inoculation with Isolates Verticillium dahliae

Four Verticillium dahliae isolates (V76, TS‐2, PH, and V44) were used in screening four cotton cultivars (Pima S‐7, Acala Prema, M‐315 and Acala 44). Pima S‐7 and Acala Prema gave the highest resistance reactions and Acala 44 was the most susceptible. Isolate V76 of V. dahliae was the most virulent. An interspecific cross between the resistant cv Pima S‐7 (Gossypium barbadense) and the susceptible cv. Acala 44 (G. hirsutum) was made and the F₂ population phenotyped for Verticillium wilt effect. Phenotyping of plant reaction to the disease was quantified by using a set of six growth parameters (number of healthy leaves, number of nodes, leaf weight, stem weight, leaf to stem ratio, and total shoot weight) measured 3 weeks after inoculation. The F₂ phenotypic distribution of these parameters suggests that distribution is towards resistance and polygenic. Transgressive segregation also was observed. The number of healthy leaves and total shoot weight were found to be the best indicators of resistance. Results obtained in this study will be useful to quantify resistance to V. dahliae and identify the best parameters to phenotype in genetic studies.     

Isolation of Glycoproteins from Verticillium dahliae and Their Phytotoxicity

Verticillium dahliae Kleb. is a phytopathogenic fungus that causes cotton wilt-disease. Glycoproteins secreted by V. dahliae have been found to play an important role in wilting syndrome. In this study the glycoproteins were purified consecutively by ConA-Sepharose 4B affinity chromatography, Sephadex G-150 gel filtration, two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and SDS gradient gel electrophoresis. The N-terminal residual sequence of a 26 kD glycoprotein was analyzed. Plant-wilting tests were carried out by injection of glycoproteins, and those treated by heat, ConA and zeatin, into cotton leaves, respectively. Results showed that heat and ConA treatment abolished the wilt-causing activity of the glycoproteins, and zeatin alleviated the wilt syndrome of cotton. Furthermore, the glycoproteins were found to be effective elicitors in inducing the biosynthesis of sesquiterpene aldehyde phytoalexins in suspension cell cultures of Gossypium barbadense L., and heat-treatment lowered, but not abolished the elicitor activity. However, application of native glycoproteins at the concentration higher than 5 mg/L resulted in cell death.     

棉花黄萎病及其抗病育种的研究

就棉花黄萎病菌的致病机理、棉花的抗黄萎病机制、抗黄萎病的遗传方式以及抗黄萎病棉花育种等方面的研究进行了综述。     

棉花体细胞增殖和胚胎发生中的细胞程序性死亡

棉花组织培养中愈伤组织褐化可能与细胞程序性死亡(PCD)有关.对棉花组培中不同时期的愈伤组织DNA进行琼脂糖电泳,观察到:仅在第一次愈伤组织继代后10 d左右和愈伤组织第一次继代到分化培养基中培养10 d左右,愈伤组织的DNA产生了180 bp左右的片断或其整数倍片断大小的DNA带,呈DNA梯(DNA ladder)状电泳,说明在这两个时期PCD达到了高峰.在这两次PCD高峰后1周均出现愈伤组织大规模的褐化死亡.显微镜观察到第一次PCD发生高峰的愈伤组织存在许多管状、内含物少的细胞,这些细胞分布在愈伤组织的边缘和内部;第二次PCD发生高峰观察到体细胞胚胎分化、PCD细胞的木栓化和水渍化.对体细胞胚胎分化时期的原生质体进行荧光染色(DAPI),荧光显微镜下观察到发生细胞程序性死亡的细胞核浓缩、染色质凝聚、结块、边缘化和形成PCD小体.     

Functional Analysis of Autophagy Genes via Agrobacterium-Mediated Transformation in the Vascular Wilt Fungus Verticillium dahliae

Autophagy is a widely conserved intracellular process for degradation and recycling of proteins,organelles and cytoplasm in eukaryotic organisms and is now emerging as an important process in foliar in...     

茄子黄萎病菌抗性根际芽孢杆菌的筛选与鉴定

利用离体抑菌圈法从茄子根际土壤筛选出8株对黄萎病菌大丽轮枝菌(Verticillium dahliae)抑菌效果明显的芽孢杆菌,其中F53菌株分泌几丁质酶和-β1,3-葡聚糖酶,对所检测的12种植物病原菌具明显的抑制作用,其发酵液热、酸碱稳定性强,用F53菌株制成的菌剂对茄子黄萎病盆栽试验防效为52.4%~75.8%,初步鉴定F53菌株为环状芽孢杆菌(Bacillus circulans)。     

Water Stress and Verticillium Wilt Severity on Eggplant (Solanummelongena L.)

Verticillium wilt is one of the most destructive diseases of eggplant (Solanum melongena L.). Some researchers have reported that wilt was encouraged by sufficient soil humidity, while others stated that it was encouraged by drought. This study investigated the water stress effect on the severity of Verticillium wilt on eggplant, as it is reflected on yield, agronomic traits and fruit quality. Thus, eggplant seedlings cv. ‘Tsakoniki’ were transplanted in three rows, each with 20 plants, during the summer of 1995 and 1996 in a plastic greenhouse, at the Agricultural Research Center of Macedonia and Thrace. Ten of the plants in each row were inoculated with the fungus Verticillium dahliae, while the other 10 were used as controls. Rows were irrigated every 2, 4 or 6 days. Soil humidity was calculated before every irrigation in each row. The disease severity was estimated by the disease index (DI) as the combination product of leaf symptom index (LSI) and vascular discoloration index (VDI). In addition, the plant height, early and total commercial yields, fruit numbers of early and total commercial yields, plant weight, the above-ground plant weight, root weight, pH, total soluble solids and fruit brilliance plus colour intensity were measured. The effect of Verticillium wilt on plants irrigated every 2, 4 or 6 days was estimated by the correlation coefficient (r) between LSI and DI and the aforementioned characteristics. Verticillium wilt had a significant but negative effect on all of the measured or calculated characteristics. This effect, however, was independent of the irrigation applied. On average, the early commercial yield was reduced by 40.8% and the final commercial yield by 39.4%. The only quality characteristic that was affected significantly by irrigation was the fruit brilliance and colour intensity (r =?0.640 to ? 0.727, P ≤ 0.01). Finally, the irrigation frequency (every 2, 4 or 6 days) had a significant but negative effect on all of the characteristics measured on the control plants. The only exception was fruit quality. In conclusion, the combined effect of irrigation and Verticillium wilt infection significantly reduced the early and total production of eggplant and spoiled the fruit quality.     

The Gossypium hirsutum TIR-NBS-LRR gene GhDSC1 mediates resistance against Verticillium wilt

Improving genetic resistance is a preferred method to manage Verticillium wilt of cotton and other hosts. Identifying host resistance is difficult because of the dearth of resistance genes against this pathogen. Previously, a novel candidate gene involved in Verticillium wilt resistance was identified by a genome-wide association study using a panel of Gossypium hirsutum accessions. In this study, we cloned the candidate resistance gene from cotton that encodes a protein sharing homology with the TIR-NBS-LRR receptor-like defence protein DSC1 in Arabidopsis thaliana (hereafter named GhDSC1). GhDSC1 expressed at higher levels in response to Verticillium wilt and jasmonic acid (JA) treatment in resistant cotton cultivars as compared to susceptible cultivars and its product was localized to nucleus. The transfer of GhDSC1 to Arabidopsis conferred Verticillium resistance in an A. thaliana dsc1 mutant. This resistance response was associated with reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation and increased expression of JA-signalling-related genes. Furthermore, the expression of GhDSC1 in response to Verticillium wilt and JA signalling in A. thaliana displayed expression patterns similar to GhCAMTA3 in cotton under identical conditions, suggesting a coordinated DSC1 and CAMTA3 response in A. thaliana to Verticillium wilt. Analyses of GhDSC1 sequence polymorphism revealed a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) difference between resistant and susceptible cotton accessions, within the P-loop motif encoded by GhDSC1. This SNP difference causes ineffective activation of defence response in susceptible cultivars. These results demonstrated that GhDSC1 confers Verticillium resistance in the model plant system of A. thaliana, and therefore represents a suitable candidate for the genetic engineering of Verticillium wilt resistance in cotton.     

Cotton GhSSI2 isoforms from the stearoyl acyl carrier protein fatty acid desaturase family regulate Verticillium wilt resistance

Lipids are major and essential constituents of plant cells and provide energy for various metabolic processes. However, the function of the lipid signal in defence against Verticillium dahliae, a hemibiotrophic pathogen, remains unknown. Here, we characterized 19 conserved stearoyl-ACP desaturase family proteins from upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum). We further confirmed that GhSSI2 isoforms, including GhSSI2-A, GhSSI2-B, and GhSSI2-C located on chromosomes A10, D10, and A12, respectively, played a dominant role to the cotton 18:1 (oleic acid) pool. Suppressing the expression of GhSSI2s reduced the 18:1 level, which autoactivated the hypersensitive response (HR) and enhanced cotton Verticillium wilt and Fusarium wilt resistance. We found that low 18:1 levels induced phenylalanine ammonia-lyase-mediated salicylic acid (SA) accumulation and activated a SA-independent defence response in GhSSI2s-silenced cotton, whereas suppressing expression of GhSSI2s affected PDF1.2-dependent jasmonic acid (JA) perception but not the biosynthesis and signalling cascade of JA. Further investigation showed that structurally divergent resistance-related genes and nitric oxide (NO) signal were activated in GhSSI2s-silenced cotton. Taken together, these results indicate that SA-independent defence response, multiple resistance-related proteins, and elevated NO level play an important role in GhSSI2s-regulated Verticillium wilt resistance. These findings broaden our knowledge regarding the lipid signal in disease resistance and provide novel insights into the molecular mechanism of cotton fungal disease resistance.     

陆地棉抗病基因同源序列的克隆与分析

根据已知抗病基因NBS保守区的P-loop和GLPL区设计一对简并引物F1/R1,以7个抗黄萎病陆地棉品种和2个感黄萎病品种的基因组DNA为模板进行PCR扩增.在9个品种中均扩增出500 bp左右的条带.对目的条带进行回收,连接、转化克隆得到350个阳性克隆,进行测序.在8个棉花品种中克隆到74条具有完整开放读码框的棉花RGAs序列.这74条序列共有64种不同的基因型,有10条与其他品种中的RGAs序列相同.用MEGA软件对8个棉花品种的74条RGA序列以及12个已知的抗病基因的NBS区域进行聚类分析,可分为4类;4类RGAs之间的相似性较低,各类之内的RGAs虽然来自不同品种,氨基酸序列的相似度却非常高.推测各大类中相似性较高的序列分别属于同一个基因家族,从位点上说可能处于同一个基因簇.     

水杨酸和黄萎病菌毒素处理棉花愈伤组织使β-1,3-葡聚糖酶和几丁质酶的活性增加

不同品种棉花(Gossypium hirsutum L.)愈伤组织对黄萎病菌毒素粗提物的抗性与体内β-1,3-葡聚糖酶和几丁质酶活性水平有关.在毒素处理下,抗性品种比感性品种酶活性增加的幅度大、时间早.外源水杨酸(SA)处理后,棉花愈伤组织中的β-1,3-葡聚糖酶和几丁质酶活性增加.抗β-1,3-葡聚糖酶多克隆抗体与28 kD的蛋白条带有免疫交叉反应,毒素、SA、毒素+SA均能诱导该蛋白条带出现.     

细胞壁羟脯氨酸和游离脯氨酸与棉花对枯萎病抗性的关系

氟乐灵处理能推迟棉苗枯萎病症状的出现、降低发病株率和病情指数,说明氟乐灵处理能提高棉酋对枯萎病的抗性。在健康棉苗中,抗病品种（中棉１２）细胞壁结合的羟脯氨酸含量显著高于感病品种（６０３７）,但游离脯氨酸含量无明显差异。在氟乐灵处理和未处理而接种棉枯萎病菌的两个处理中,两个品种的细胞壁结合的羟脯氨酸和游离脯氨酸含量均高于各自的健康株对照,而且抗病品种中的含量都高于感病品种,说明细胞壁结合的羟脯氨酸和游禹脯氨酸的积累是氟乐灵诱发的抗病性表现及棉苗受枯萎病菌侵染后抗性反应的生化机制之一。     

云南野生茄资源黄萎病苗期人工接种抗性鉴定分析

黄萎病是目前茄子生产中的主要病害之一,广泛收集、鉴定、筛选抗性资源,尤其是从野生近缘种中发掘抗性基因并培育抗病品种,是解决茄子黄萎病危害的优选途径。云南省拥有丰富的野生茄子资源但尚未有效利用。本研究针对云南省茄子主产区收集到的3种黄萎病菌株,通过形态学鉴定和真菌18S r DNA/ITS鉴定,均属于大丽轮枝菌,并通过致病力鉴定,筛选出一株强致病力菌株(QZ-S);应用菌株QZ-S,通过苗期人工接种的方法对45份云南野生茄子资源开展黄萎病抗性鉴定,最终筛选出2份高抗材料(蒜芥茄和喀西茄)、2份抗病材料(水茄和多裂水茄)、6份中抗材料(1份刺天茄和5份红茄);此外,还筛选到了1份黄萎病高感材料239-3-2。本研究筛选出的材料可应用于茄子黄萎病抗病育种,为茄子及其他作物黄萎病抗病育种提供抗源。     

撤除外源生长素诱发棉花胚性悬浮细胞程序性死亡

棉花胚性悬浮细胞在仅含生长素的MS培养基上培养时,生长良好;但当转入到不含生长素的MS培养基上培养时,大规模死亡.通过细胞学观察发现,在转入无生长素的MS培养基培养3～4 d后可见明显的核质浓缩、胞质收缩,而高温处理引起的细胞坏死无此现象.用抽提悬浮细胞基因组DNA进行凝胶电泳发现:这种细胞死亡还伴随有典型的DNA梯度出现,而坏死的细胞和对照无DNA梯度.表明这种由生长素撤除引起的细胞死亡是一种程序性死亡.这种细胞死亡能被水解酶抑制剂和半胱氨酸蛋白酶抑制剂抑制,表明水解酶和类半胱氨酸蛋白水解酶(CLP)参与细胞程序性死亡.     

我国棉花抗枯黄萎病品种纤维品质遗传改良评价

对我国108个抗枯、黄萎病骨干品种的纤维品质进行了分析,整体表现纤维较长,27mm以下的品种较少;比强度平均值较低,但也有少数高强力品种;马克隆值较大,纤维较粗.20世纪60-90年代抗病育种对纤维品质未明显改进,纤维长度、比强度、马克隆值平均值均无显著增长;但纤维长度类型更加丰富,纤维长度最大值有所增加,最高强力品种的比强度值逐渐提高,90年代品种中有较细纤维类型.从中筛选出纤维长度在33mm以上,比强度在33.2cN/tex以上,纤维整齐度在87.1%以上,马克隆值在3.8～4.3之间的品种各10个,筛选出纤维品质指标综合优良的品种9个.     

Ultrastructural changes and location of beta-1, 3-glucanase in resistant and susceptible cotton callus cells in response to treatment with toxin of Verticillium dahliae and salicylic acid

Calli from two cotton cultivars susceptible and resistant to Verticillium wilt, were treated with a crude toxin of Verticillium dahliae (VD-toxin) plus salicylic acid (SA). Cells treated with VD-toxin showed distinct ultrastructural changes. Cells from the susceptible cultivar displayed damage to plasma membrane and cytoplasm. The deleterious effect on cells of the resistant cultivar, with an accumulation of electron-dense precipitate in the vacuoles, was less noticeable. Exogenous SA protected callus cells from VD-toxin. We also report the localization of β-1,3-glucanase in callus cells with immunofluorescence labeling. Stronger fluorescence was observed in the extra-cellular space in resistant than in susceptible cotton; strongest in resistant cotton after 5 days of treatment with VD-toxin plus SA. The findings reported here indicate an important role of exogenous salicylic acid in the induction of resistance to VD-toxin in cotton. Coupled with an increase in β-1,3-glucanase, cellular integrity is maintained and damage to cell wall and plasma membrane is avoided.