Functional Analysis of the Pathogenicity-Related Gene VdPR1 in the Vascular Wilt Fungus Verticillium dahliae.

Ya-Lin Zhang,Yong-Qiang Shi,Zhi-Fang Li,Li-Hong Zhao,Xi-Ling Zhang,He-Qin Zhu,Hong-Jie Feng,Zi-Li Feng,Xianlong Zhang

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0166000

Ya-Lin Zhang, Yong-Qiang Shi + Show 7 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0166000

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Abstract

Verticillium dahliae Kleb., the causal agent of vascular wilt, can seriously diminish the yield and quality of many crops, including cotton. The pathogenic mechanism to cotton is complicated and unclear now. To screen pathogencity related genes and identify their function is the reliable way to explain the mechanism. In this study, we obtained a low-pathogenicity mutant vdpr1 from a T-DNA insertional library of the highly virulent isolate of V. dahliae Vd080, isolated from cotton. The tagged gene was named pathogenicity-related gene (VdPR1). The deletion mutant ΔVdPR1 did not form microsclerotia and showed a drastic reduction in spore yield and mycelial growth, compared to wild type. Also, ΔVdPR1 showed significantly lower protease and cellulase activities than those of wild type. Complementation of the mutant strain with VdPR1 (strain ΔVdPR1-C) almost completely rescued the attributes described above to wild-type levels. The knockout mutant ΔVdPR1 showed delayed infection, caused mild disease symptoms, formed a smaller biomass in roots of the host, and showed compromised systemic invasive growth in the xylem. These results suggest that VdPR1 is a multifaceted gene involved in regulating the growth development, early infection and pathogenicity of V. dahliae.

Highlights

Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) is the most important source of natural textile fibers worldwide, and is a significant oilseed crop
These results suggest that VdPR1 may be specific to V. dahliae, and that it encodes a secreted protein
The expression of VdPR1 was continuously up-regulated after infection of cotton, the transcript level was significantly elevated by over 8-fold at 1 dpi (Fig 9). These results suggest that VdPR1 may be Functional Analysis of the Pathogenicity-Related Gene VdPR1 in Verticillium dahliae involved in V. dahliae pathogenicity and that it plays a curial role in the early infection process

Summary

Introduction

Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) is the most important source of natural textile fibers worldwide, and is a significant oilseed crop. Verticillium wilt severely damages cotton production, and strategies to minimize this disease are a high priority. Verticillium wilt is managed in cotton by the use of resistant or tolerant varieties. Verticillium dahliae is a soilborne phytopathogenic fungus that causes vascular wilt diseases in a wide variety of crop plants, resulting in extensive economic losses [1,2,3]. This pathogen is difficult to control because of its wide host range and its long-living dormant microsclerotia [4, 5].

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