Abstract
The vast majority of plant disease resistance (R) genes encode nucleotide binding site–leucine-rich repeat (NBS-LRR) proteins, which specifically determine the plant immune response and have been demonstrated to be targets of several microRNA (miRNA) families. The fungus Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici (FOL) causes vascular wilt disease in tomato worldwide. Here, we explored a possible role for FGR3 in tomato defense against FOL. FRG3 is a predicted NBS-LRR like gene that is targeted by slmiR482e-3p, a member of slmiR482 miRNA family. Northern blot data demonstrated that all seven members of the slmiR482 family were regulated in diverse ways after infection by FOL. The ability of FRG3 to be regulated by slmiR482e-3p was confirmed at the transcript level by co-expression studies in Nicotiana benthamiana. A virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) approach revealed that FRG3 confers resistance to the Motelle tomato cultivar. Taken together, our study has identified a novel R gene, FRG3, which is targeted by slmiR482e-3p at the transcript level, and is necessary for resistance to tomato wilt disease in planta.
Highlights
Plant defense against pathogenic microorganisms is based on two major layered innate immune systems
SlmiR482 is unusual among microRNA families, in that most members are 22 rather than 21 nucleotides, and have more sequence variability than other miRNA families (Figure 1A)
The RNA blot results revealed that all seven members were expressed and regulated differentially in two tomato cultivars plants after FOL infection, which differed from our previous sRNA-seq results (Figure 1B and Supplementary Figures S1–S7)
Summary
Plant defense against pathogenic microorganisms is based on two major layered innate immune systems. Upon exposure to pathogen invasion, recognition of microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs) by pattern-recognition receptors (PRRs) in the plant leads to a general defense response referred to pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMP)-triggered immunity (PTI), known as basal defense. Plants have acquired disease resistance (R) genes to recognize the presence or action of specific effectors, directly or indirectly, and active effector-triggered immunity (ETI), which is a fast and strong form of immunity. This innate immune system is referred to the second defense (Jones and Dangl, 2006; Fei et al, 2016)
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